PENTAGON WANTS $200 BILLON

The Pentagon has asked the White House to approve a more than $200 billion request to Congress to fund the war in Iran, according to a senior administration official, in an enormous new ask that is almost certain to run into resistance from lawmakers opposed to the conflict. That number would far surpass the costs of the administration’s massive airstrike campaign to date and instead seek to urgently increase production of critical weaponry expended as U.S. and Israeli forces have struck thousands of targets over the past three weeks, according to three other people familiar with the matter, who confirmed that the Defense Department is seeking packages of that size. Video by @carmella-boykin based on reporting by Noah Robertson, Jeff Stein and Riley Beggin. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/03/18/iran-cost-budget-pentagon/