WASHINGTON — Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and President Trump confirmed Thursday they are seeking $200 billion in supplemental defense funding amid the war in Iran.

If approved by Congress, the money would replenish America’s munitions stockpile and build out military capabilities beyond the current conflict in the Middle East.

“As far as the $200 billion, I think that number could move, obviously,” Hegseth told reporters. “It takes money to kill bad guys. So we’re going back to Congress and our folks there to ensure that we’re properly funded for what’s being done.”

The amount requested is far beyond what the US has actually expended so far in its sweeping bombing campaign to cripple the Iranian regime, indicating a wider goal of beefing up America’s defense industrial base amid fears that the ability to rapidly produce weapons domestically has degraded over time.

Pentagon officials previously told Congress that as of March 5, the sixth day of combat, the US had spent about $11.3 billion on Operation Epic Fury.

The amount also dwarfs the nearly $67 billion in military aid the US has provided Ukraine since Russian forces invaded that country in February 2022.

“An investment like this is meant to say, ‘Hey, we’ll replace anything that was spent.’ And now … we’re reviving our defense industrial base and rebuilding the arsenal of freedom,” Hegseth added.

In the Oval Office later Thursday, Trump told reporters that $200 billion was “a small price to pay to make sure that we stay tippy-top.”

“We’re asking for a lot of reasons, beyond even what we’re talking about in Iran,” he added, “when this is a very volatile world, and the military equipment, the power of some of this weaponry, is unthinkable.”

“Whether you agree or disagree with Iran, look, we are perilously low on some of the ammunition stocks that we would need if — God forbid, and nobody wants this — we got into a confrontation in the Western Pacific with the Chinese,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.)  told The Post last week.

Publicly, Trump has downplayed fears of military industrial decay, claiming earlier this month that “we have a virtually unlimited supply of these weapons.”

But for months, the White House has privately raised concerns about US munitions stockpiles and endeavored to get defense contractors to bolster their production capacities, with Hegseth calling for them to be on a “wartime footing” back in November. 

So far during Operation Epic Fury, which began on Feb. 28, the US has “struck over 7,000 targets across Iran and its military infrastructure,” according to Hegseth, who added that Thursday would see “the largest strike package yet, just like yesterday was.”

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are likely to be skeptical about the eye-watering request from the White House, should the Trump administration decide to make the formal ask, due to the massive price tag and ongoing apprehension about the war.

Trump has long been a proponent of boosting military spending. Prior to the war, he publicly called for a massive $1.5 trillion annual defense budget, a 50% increase from current outlays.

That suggestion faced pushback from fiscal hawks within the congressional GOP. Republicans are defending narrow majorities in the House and Senate in the November midterm elections.

Some of the anxiety on Capitol Hill over the war in Iran is driven by concerns about how long it will last. Trump, who campaigned on ending “forever wars,” has largely refrained from giving an ironclad timeline, though he initially suggested the conflict would last “four weeks or so” before saying that it would end when “I feel it in my bones.” 

Hegseth again refrained from laying out a timetable on Thursday, but insisted that the US is “very much on track.”

“We wouldn’t want to set a definitive time frame on that,” Hegseth said. “It will be at the president’s choosing, ultimately, where we say, ‘Hey, we’ve achieved what we need to on behalf of the American people to ensure our security.’

“No time set on that. But we’re very much on track.”