The Pentagon has asked the White House for another $200 billion to carry out the war in Iran, a senior administration official said.
The request comes as U.S. President Donald Trump warned on social media that the U.S. would retaliate and “massively blow up the entirety” of Iran's gas field if it continues.
The Pentagon sent the request to the White House, according to the senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private information.
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This $200 billion is an extraordinarily high number and comes on top of extra funding the Defense Department already received last year in Trump’s big tax cuts bill.
Congress is bracing for a new spending request but it is not clear the White House has transmitted the request for consideration. It is unclear whether the spending request would have support.
Iran intensified its attacks on oil and gas facilities around the Gulf on Thursday in retaliation for an Israeli attack on a key Iranian gas field, dramatically raising the stakes in a war that is sending shock waves through the global economy. Fuel prices soared around the world.
The direct attacks on energy infrastructure mark a major escalation in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. One think-tank said Israel’s targeting of South Pars, the Iranian part of the world’s largest gas field, aimed to inflict more pressure on the Iranian government by making living conditions for its civilians intolerable. Iran responded by hitting a Saudi refinery on the Red Sea and setting Qatari liquefied natural gas facilities and two Kuwaiti oil refineries ablaze.
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Brent crude oil, the international standard, spiked to as high as $118 a barrel, up more than 60% since Israel and the United States started the war Feb. 28 with strikes on Iran. The war’s latest developments now threaten long-term disruptions to the global energy supply.
