This article, authored by Francis Kapper is republished under the Creative Commons “CC BY-NC-ND” license with permission from The Daily Caller News Foundation.
A top Department of War official said that the Iran war has cost the U.S. about $25 billion during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Wednesday.
Jules W. Hurst III, the assistant secretary and chief financial officer of the Department of War, cited the $25 billion figure during the hearing. That amount could pay for more than 1,000 miles of the proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, based on a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) cost-per-mile estimate.
“So approximately, at this day, we are spending about $25 billion on Operation Epic Fury,” Hurst said during the hearing. “Most of that is in munitions. There is, part of that is, obviously, ammo and equipment replacement. We will formulate a supplemental through the White House that will come to Congress, once we have a full assessment of the cost of the conflict.”
“The [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] strategy included an overall estimate of the cost to construct barriers at Border Patrol’s top 17 priority locations — an estimate of $18 billion for 722 miles of barriers,” the U.S. GAO report states. “However, according to CBP officials, that estimate was based on an average cost per mile and is not intended to reflect the costs of individual construction projects.”
“Thanks to the successful blockade of Iranian ports, the United States has maximum leverage over the regime, and the President will only accept a deal that protects the national security of our country,” a White House official told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The White House official told the DCNF that Trump delivered on his promise to secure the border in months and delivered eleven straight months of zero releases into the United States. The official said the Trump administration remains committed to building the border wall.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s $18 billion estimate for 722 miles of barriers works out to about $24.9 million per mile. At that rate, $25 billion could fund roughly 1,002 miles at that average rate.
“Since January 20, 2025, approximately 25 miles of new border wall have been constructed,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection stated in a press release on Jan 22, 2026. It remains unclear how many miles of border wall have been constructed since then.
“The length of the Southwest border with Mexico is approximately 1,954 miles,” according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The massive cost of the war in Iran and the unfinished wall along the U.S.-Mexico border both appear to conflict with two of President Donald Trump’s core campaign promises.
“I’m not going to start a war,” Trump said to supporters on election night Nov. 6, 2024, according to a Roll Call transcript. “I’m going to stop wars.”
“I will end the illegal immigration crisis by closing our border and finishing the wall,” Trump said during the Republican National Convention on July 18, 2024, C-SPAN reported.
A White House press official told the DCNF that they met all of the objectives in Operation Epic Fury, stating that it was a successful military campaign.
The White House press official claimed that the U.S. was successful in sinking the Iranian navy and destroying its ballistic missiles, though this contradicts statements provided by U.S. officials to CBS News, which stated that Iran retains 60% of its Navy, about half of its missiles and an undisclosed number of aircraft.
The Department of War requested roughly $1.5 trillion in total budgetary resources for fiscal 2027, a 44% increase from the fiscal 2026 enacted level. The request includes $1.1 trillion in base discretionary budget authority and $350 billion in additional mandatory resources.
Operation Epic Fury commenced on Feb. 28, 2026. With the estimate of $25 billion so far, Operation Epic Fury averages roughly $409 million per day over 61 elapsed days as of Thursday.
Rules Committee Print 119–3 included language on the border wall, stating that the border barrier system construction would require $46.5 billion. The $25 billion expense for the Iran war could cover over 53% of that cost.
“From 2017 through January 2021, federal agencies built about 450 miles of barriers along the U.S. Southwest border,” a U.S. GAO report states. “To expedite construction, they waived federal environmental and other laws.”
“With our victory in November, the years of war, weakness and chaos will be over,” Trump said at the Republican National Convention on July 18, 2024.
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