• White House may request $50bn additional funding for Iran war.
• Trump claims US has ‘won’ but will continue fighting.
• $5.6bn of munitions used on Iran in first two days.

WASHINGTON: Officials from President Donald Trump’s administration estimated during a congressional briefing this week that the first six days of the war on Iran had cost the US at least $11.3 billion, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

That figure, from a closed-door briefing for senators on Tuesday, did not include the entire cost of the war, but was provided to lawmakers as they have clamoured for more information about the conflict.

Several congressional aides have said they expect the White House to soon submit a request to Congress for additional funding for the war. Some officials have said the request could be for $50 billion, while others have said that estimate seems low.

The administration has not provided a public assessment of the cost of the conflict or a clear idea of its expected duration. Trump said during a trip to Kentucky on Wednesday that “we won” the war but that the US will stay in the fight to finish the job.

The $11.3 billion figure was first reported on Wednesday by the New York Times.

The campaign against Iran began on February 28 with US and Israeli airstrikes and has so far killed around 2,000 people, mostly Iranians and Lebanese, as the conflict has spread into Lebanon and thrown global energy markets and transport into chaos.

Administration officials also have told lawmakers that $5.6 billion of munitions were used during the first two days of strikes.

Members of Congress, who may soon have to approve additional funding for the war, have expressed concern that the conflict will deplete US military stocks at a time when the defence industry was already struggling to keep up with demand.

Trump met executives from seven defence contractors last week as the Pentagon worked to replenish supplies.

Democratic lawmakers have demanded public testimony under oath from administration officials about the Republican president’s plans for the war, including how long it might last and what his plans are for Iran once the fighting has stopped.

A van smashed through a security barricade near the White House early Wednesday, authorities said, forcing a temporary shutdown of the area in downtown Washington during morning rush hour.

The driver was taken into custody and there were no reported injuries following the pre-dawn incident at Lafayette Square, just north of the White House.

A police bomb squad cleared the vehicle and declared the scene safe, said a spokesperson for the US Secret Service, which handles presidential security.

“The individual is currently being interviewed by the Secret Service and criminal charges are pending,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Washington has been under heightened security amid the US-Israel war on Iran.

Dozens of emergency vehicles with lights flashing descended on the scene, as police closed several major streets around the White House.

Traffic congestion snarled the area as office workers and tourists were blocked from passing through.

• Pentagon confirms Musk’s Grok cleared for use in classified setting.
• Using AI as tool to violate sovereignty of other nations: China.
• Pentagon’s row with Anthropic erupted days before US strike on Iran.
  

BEIJING: China warned the United States on Wednesday that the excessive use of artificial intelligence in its military could plunge the world into a “Terminator”-like dystopian future.

US President Donald Trump’s administration has sought the unconditional use of AI startups in the military.

The Pentagon has confirmed Elon Musk’s Grok system is cleared for use in a classified setting, and blacklisted Anthropic after it refused to allow its Claude AI model to be used for mass surveillance and autonomous lethal warfare.

“Such choices as the unrestricted application of AI by the military, using AI as a tool to violate the sovereignty of other nations, allowing AI to excessively affect war decisions, and giving algorithms the power to determine life and death, not only erode ethical restraints and accountability in wars, but also risk technological runaway,” a spokesman for China’s defence ministry, Jiang Bin, said on Wednesday.

“A dystopia depicted in the American film ‘The Terminator’ could one day come true,” he said.

“The Terminator”, released in 1984 and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, depicts an apocalyptic future in which AI-controlled robots fight humans.

The Pentagon’s row with Anthropic erupted days before the US military strike on Iran.

Claude is the Pentagon’s most widely deployed frontier AI model and the only such model currently operating on the Defence Department’s classified systems.

Anthropic infuriated Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth by insisting its technology should not be used for mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons systems.

Trump subsequently ordered every federal agency to cease all use of Anthropic’s technology.

Hours later, Hegseth designated Anthropic a “Supply-Chain Risk to National Security” and ordered that no military contractor, supplier or partner “may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic”, while allowing a six-month transition period for the Pentagon itself.