US media: US Department of Defense seeks $200 billion in funding for the war against Iraq.

PANews reported on March 19th, citing The Washington Post, that senior U.S. government officials stated the Pentagon has requested the White House to approve a congressional budget request exceeding $200 billion to fund a war with Iran. This request, far exceeding the cost of the current large-scale government airstrikes, is almost certain to face resistance from lawmakers opposed to the conflict. The request aims to urgently boost the production capacity of key weapons, which have been heavily depleted in the past three weeks. Some White House officials believe the Pentagon's request is unlikely to be approved by Congress. Sources familiar with the matter said the Pentagon has submitted several funding proposals of varying sizes in the past two weeks. This work is being led by Deputy Secretary of Defense Steven Feinberg, whose team has developed a series of funding plans intended to quickly alleviate the Pentagon's ammunition shortage. Senator Tom Cotton, Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a Republican, is also pushing for the inclusion of additional funding for the intelligence community in the final proposal.