White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, March 30, 2026. (Photo: Li Yuanqing/Xinhua)

WASHINGTON, March 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump "would be quite interested" in calling on Arab countries to help pay for the costs related to the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday.

"I won't get ahead of him (Trump) on that," Leavitt said at a White House press briefing. "But certainly it's an idea that I know that he has and something that I think you'll hear more from him on."

Pentagon officials told the U.S. Congress earlier this month that the Trump administration spent more than 11.3 billion U.S. dollars in the first six days of its war against Iran.

The figure does not include battle damage and replacement of losses, which likely costs the Pentagon roughly 1.4 billion dollars to 2.9 billion dollars over the first three weeks of the war, according to a Wall Street Journal report, quoting Elaine McCusker, former Pentagon budget official who has been tracking the cost for the American Enterprise Institute.