US war in Iran cost $37.5 billion so far, Pentagon says

Hegseth told lawmakers the figure also included anticipated costs through Sept. 30.

It's the first time Hegseth, who appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee along with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine, publicly faced questions from lawmakers since the U.S. military restarted operations against Iran this month.

Hours later, the U.S. military said it conducted the 11th consecutive night of strikes on Iran. "The strikes are designed to continue degrading Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz," U.S. Central Command said on social media. It said Iranian military operations centers, maritime capabilities, aircraft hangars, drone storage facilities and military logistics infrastructure were targeted.

Earlier in the day, two oil tankers carrying Saudi crude to Asia reversed course in the Red Sea after threats from Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis, as the widening Middle East conflict disrupted shipping through two of the world's most critical energy chokepoints.

U.S. forces bombed targets in the south and west of Iran overnight into Tuesday, while Tehran targeted U.S. sites in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan and a tanker was hit in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran said it struck infrastructure belonging to Amazon in Bahrain, where the U.S. tech company operates a regional data center. Amazon did not immediately comment and Reuters could not verify the report.

The Houthis, who control northern and western Yemen including the coast at the mouth of the Red Sea, announced a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia on Monday, opening a potential new front in the war. In a letter to shippers, they threatened to attack vessels that load or discharge Saudi oil.

U.S. President Donald Trump said the Houthis had not yet shut the Bab el-Mandeb, which leads into the Red Sea, and threatened to act against them if they did.

The president also confirmed 18 U.S. service members were killed so far, including four in Iranian attacks on U.S. military bases in Jordan and Iraq over the past few days.

Still, the Houthi announcement appeared to have an effect. Two tankers that had just loaded crude at Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port of Yanbu made U-turns Tuesday, heading toward the Suez Canal rather than out through the Bab el-Mandeb into the Indian Ocean.

"The developments represent the first confirmed changes to commercial tanker routing following the (Houthi) embargo and are likely to increase disruption to Saudi crude exports and regional shipping patterns," British maritime risk management group Vanguard said.

With the war shutting the Strait of Hormuz leading out of the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea served as the main alternate route out for millions of barrels of Saudi oil per day.

Oil prices rose more than 2% Tuesday, with Brent crude hovering above $91 a barrel and U.S. gasoline back over $4 a gallon.

Earlier, U.S. Central Command said it hit Iranian military command centers, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and air defense systems in its previous round of strikes, which carried on nightly for more than a week and a half after an interim deal to halt the fighting collapsed this month.

Explosions were heard around Shiraz in southern Iran, state media said. Konarak and Chabahar on the southern coast, the city of Khorramabad and a civilian site outside the city of Abdanan, both in the west, came under attack, media reports said. Later, the IRNA news agency quoted an official in Khorramabad as saying no enemy attack took place there.

Fifty civilians were killed and 500 wounded in recent U.S. strikes on Iran, a health ministry official said. Washington reported three U.S. soldiers killed in recent days in the region and says it is punishing Iran for their deaths.

Iran launched renewed attacks Tuesday across the region, where recent strikes on desalination facilities raised concerns about shortages in desert countries that depend almost entirely on removing salt from seawater for potable supplies.

Kuwait said it responded to a drone and missile attack Tuesday afternoon. The country reported attacks that damaged power generation in recent days at plants that also produce fresh water.

Sirens sounded in Bahrain where Iran's Revolutionary Guard said it targeted infrastructure belonging to Amazon, in response to what it described as a U.S. strike on the construction site of a planned Iranian nuclear power plant.

Iranian state media reported that Iranian forces also launched attacks on U.S. military barracks in Bahrain and bases in Kuwait and Jordan.

The maritime security agency UKMTO said a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz reported being struck by a projectile, forcing its crew to abandon the vessel and board a lifeboat.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard also said two oil tankers caught fire after explosions while attempting to transit the southern shipping lane of the strait.

Washington encouraged ships to use the southern lane, while Iran demands they use an alternative northern route near its coast instead, where it eventually aims to charge fees for transit.

Throughout the war, Saudi Arabia partially escaped the shipping disruption by piping oil to Yanbu instead. A full closure of that alternative route by the Houthis could reduce global oil supply as it would leave most Saudi oil exports trapped.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday that Tehran received a proposal from mediators for a 10-day ceasefire in efforts to salvage the interim deal, intended to pave the way to a lasting deal to end the war that began Feb. 28 with U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran.

In a sign that diplomacy remains alive, Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni visited mediator Pakistan and asked Islamabad to continue its efforts.