Iran war: US has spent $29 billion so far — Pentagon

Australia's Defense Minister Richard Marles has said that the country will support a military mission in the Strait of Hormuz. 

"Australia stands ready to support an independent and strictly defensive Multinational Military Mission, led by the United Kingdom and France, once it is established," Marles said in a statement on Wednesday. 

He said Australia will contribute a Wedgetail E-7A surveillance aircraft. 

The aircraft is already deployed in the region to protect the United Arab Emirates from Iran drone attacks.

Australia also took part in Tuesday's virtual meeting of defense ministers from more than 40 countries. 

The United Kingdom will deploy autonomous mine-hunting equipment, anti-drone systems, Typhoon jets and the HMS Dragon warship for a defensive mission in the Strait of Hormuz.

UK Defence Secretary John Healey made the announcement at Britain and France hosted a virtual meeting of 40 defense ministers about plans to protect shipping in the strait once hostilities cease.

The HMS Dragon, which has been helping safeguard the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, is already headed to the Middle East, the defence ministry said. 

Chancellor Rachel Reeves also approved 115 million pounds ($156 million, €133 million) for mine-hunting drones and counter-drone systems.

The defensive mission to secure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz "would become operational when conditions allow," the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

Iran denied a claim from Kuwait that members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) attempted an infilitration of Bubiyan Island. 

Bubiyan Island is Kuwait's largest island and is located near Iraq and Iran. 

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said it "strongly condemns the improper action of the Kuwaiti government in politically and propagandistically exploiting the case." 

Kuwait said it detained four members of the IRGC earlier this month who were taking part in the alleged infiltration.

Iran called Kuwait's allegations "baseless" and said the Iranians entered Kuwaiti waters accidentally "due to disruption in the navigation system."

Trump left the White House later on Tuesday and then departed for his summit in Beijing with Xi Jinping. 

The US president spoke to reporters prior to taking off for the trip. 

"I don't think we need any help with Iran. We'll win it one way or the other. We'll win it peacefully or otherwise," Trump told journalists. 

The president said he would have a "long talk" with Xi regarding Iran. China has friendly ties with the Iranian government and serves as Iran's biggest trading partner.

China has pushed for a peaceful solution to the US-Israeli war with Iran.   

Iran's Ambassador to China, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, said on X that Iran and China are two civilizations with deep cultures and strong relations and that the US is unable to change China's policy towards Iran through pressure.  

Kuwait said that it arrested members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) earlier this month who sought to infiltrate Bubiyan Island.

Bubiyan Island is Kuwait's largest island and is home to Mubarak Al Kabeer Port, which is linked to China's Belt and Road Initiative. It is located not far from Iran's shoreline.  

The report of the attack comes ahead of Trump's visit to China, where he is expected to meet Xi Jinping. Iran is a key ally of China in the Mideast region.  

Kuwait's Interior Ministry said it arrested four people in total in connection with the Iranian infiltration attempt. Kuwait said the alleged infiltrators came on May 1 "aboard a fishing boat specially chartered to carry out hostile actions against Kuwait."  

A Kuwaiti serviceman was injured in shootout with the alleged IRGC infiltrators, according to the interior ministry, and two of the IRGC members escaped the skirmish. 

Kuwait's Foreign Ministry summoned Iran's Ambassador to Kuwait Mohammad Toutounchi in response to the alleged infiltration. 

Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, addressed Hegseth and said the "question must be answered at the end fo this crisis: What have we accomplished and at what cost?"

DeLauro accused the White House of not presenting congress with "any kind of clear or coherent strategy week to week, day to day, hour to hour."

"The rationale shifts, the objectives change. The end game is ill-defined when it is defined at all." 

The ongoing military operation against Iran began on February 28 and has dominated the second year of Trump's second term. The war, and its impact on global energy supplies, could be a major topic of the campaign as Democrats seek to take back both chambers of Congress in November's midterm elections. 

Pentagon finance chief Jules Hurst III has said that the war with Iran has cost the use $29 billion (€27.7 billion) so far, some $4 billion more than an estimate provided by defense officials in late April.

"At the time of [that] testimony... it was $25 billion dollars," Hurst told lawmakers alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. "But the joint staff team and the comptroller are constantly looking at estimates and now we think it is closer to 29."

Hurst did not specify how they arrived at that number or say home much more they expected the US to spend, but he was seeking approval from Congress for a $1.5 trillion defense budget for 2027.

Congressional Republicans are increasingly finding it difficult to publicly support Trump's war with Iran as prices for consumers skyrocket and public coffers continue to be emptied out for a conflict that does not seem to be reaching any particular goal.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was met with a new round of questions from Congress on Tuesday, including fielding concerns from some Republican lawmakers who are starting to feel uneasy about how long the conflict has been going on without approval from the legislature.

When asked if there was truth to the reports that the US military is quickly burning through its munitions stores, he responded that "the munitions issue has been foolishly and unhelpfully overstated...we know exactly what we have, we have plenty of what we need."

Asked if there was a "Plan B" in place if Washington did not get what it wanted out of the conflict, Hegseth said: "We have a plan to escalate if necessary. We have a plan to retrograde if necessary. We have a plan to shift assets."

He did not provide any further details on these plans.

Iran should not blackmail Gulf states with its power over the Strait of Hormuz, which it has virtually blocked since the US and Israel launched attacks on the Islamic republic at the end of February, Qatar's top diplomat and premier said on Tuesday.

"Iran should not use this strait as a weapon to pressure or to blackmail the Gulf countries," Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said at a press conference in Doha with Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.  

Fidan also said the waterway must not be "used as a weapon," in an Arabic translation of his Turkish comments.

Iran's blockade of the strait, a major waterway for oil transport, has strained the economies of several Gulf countries as well as the rest of the world.

They have also come under frequent attack during the war triggered by the US-Israeli offensive, with Tehran targeting US assets they host but also civilian infrastructure, airports and energy facilities.

Iran's chief negotiator said on Tuesday that the US must accept Tehran's latest peace plan or be prepared for increasingly costly failure.

"There is no alternative but to accept the rights of the Iranian people as laid out in the 14-point proposal. Any other approach will be completely inconclusive; nothing but one failure after another," Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a post on X.

"The longer they drag their feet, the more American taxpayers will pay for it," the statement said.

Iran sent its proposal in response to an earlier US plan, with the country's Foreign Ministry saying it called for an end to the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, lifting the US naval blockade on Iranian ports and securing the release of Iranian assets frozen abroad.

US President Donald Trump has slammed Iran's counterproposals as "garbage" and warned that a ceasefire in place for more than a month is on the brink of collapsing.

The Japanese potato-chip maker Calbee — a household name in the Asian country — says it will start replacing its previous brightly hued packaging with sober-looking black and white amid the supply crunch caused by the Iran war.

The company said on Tuesday that it would "revise the packaging specifications" and use just "two colors" in packaging for 14 product lines starting within the next few weeks, accompanying its statement with photos of gray chip bags.

It said "supply instability for certain raw materials resulting from the escalating tensions in the Middle East" was to blame for the change.

Local media said Calbee has seen its supply of printing ink compromised owing to shortages of naphtha, an oil byproduct used in a wide range of industries.

The shortages have been caused by the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a maritime route used to transport around a fifth of the world's oil.

The Asia-Pacific region, which relies heavily on oil passing through the strait, has been particularly heavily impacted by the virtual closure, with prices for several commodities soaring. 

Israel sent Iron Dome anti-missile batteries with accompanying personnel to the United Arab Emirates to aid the Gulf country to defend itself against Iranian missiles, the US ambassador to Israel said on Tuesday.

"I’d like to say a word of appreciation for [the] United Arab Emirates, the first Abraham accord member," Mike Huckabee said at a conference in Tel Aviv. "Just look at the benefits. Israel just sent them Iron Dome batteries and personnel to help operate them."

Huckabee added that he was “very optimistic” that more countries in the region would soon join the Abraham Accords, a 2020 diplomatic recognition deal, for formal relations with Israel.

The deal also included the Gulf Arab kingdom of Bahrain, with Morocco and Sudan signing on later, although the latter country still has to fully ratify it.

The Trump administration is seeking to expand the deal further, but many Arab states have been angered by Israel's recent actions, including its retaliatory offensive in the Gaza Strip following the Hamas-led 2023 attacks on southern Israel. 

Iran's judiciary on Tuesday said it had executed a man convicted of armed rebellion, the latest in a wave of hangings carried out since the war with the US and Israel began in late February.

"The death sentence for Abdoljalil Shahbakhsh, son of Jalal, a trained member of the Ansar al-Furqan terrorist group, was carried out this morning," the judiciary's Mizan Online website said.

He had been charged with carrying out "armed attacks on police headquarters and membership in the Ansar al-Furqan rebel group."

Ansar al-Furqan is a Sunni militant group that operates in Iran's southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan.

The judiciary said Shahbakhsh carried out his attacks during protests in 2022 and 2023 following the death in custody of Jina Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian Kurdish woman.

Iran is second only to China in the number of executions it carries out, according to rights groups.

Norway-based group Iran Human Rights says the country executed at least 1,600 people last year, one of the highest numbers worldwide.

Iran could enrich uranium to 90% — and thus bring it to a level seen as suitable for use in nuclear weapons — if it comes under renewed attack, Iranian national security and foreign policy ‌commission spokesperson ‌Ebrahim ​Rezaei said on Tuesday.

"One of Iran's options ​in the event of ⁠another ​attack could be ​90% ​enrichment. We ‌will review it ​in ⁠the parliament," Rezaei posted ⁠on ​X.

The UN's nuclear agency IAEA says Iran already has more than 440 kilograms (970 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, meaning it is only a short step away from weapons-grade levels.

Six people have been killed and seven others wounded in Israeli strikes in a town in southern Lebanon, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) has reported.

NNA said the strikes on Monday, which came amid ongoing fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah despite a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, hit a house in Kfar Dounine, a town about 95 kilometers (59 miles) from the capital, Beirut. 

More than 2,800 people have been killed in Lebanon since the country was dragged into the Middle East war on March 2 after Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in response to its attacks on Iran, according to health authorities.

The NNA also reported strikes near other southern Lebanese towns, and the Israeli military ordered an evacuation of the town of Sohmor in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa valley.