Missiles, Money, and Closed skies: How One Friday Reshaped the Middle East's Deadliest Conflict
Pentagon requests record $1.5T defense budget including 85 F-35 jets, as Iran launches its 93rd missile wave at Israel and Iraq extends its airspace closure until April 10 amid ongoing regional conflict.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - The weight of a war now five weeks old pressed down on three capitals simultaneously on Friday. In Washington, the Pentagon unveiled the largest defense budget request in American history. In Tehran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched its 93rd wave of missiles and drones toward Israel. And in Baghdad, authorities extended the closure of Iraqi airspace for another week — three decisions, taken within hours of one another, that together chart the deepening trajectory of a conflict that has remade the Middle East since it began on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026.
A budget built for a new era of war
The US Department of Defense released its fiscal year 2027 budget proposal on Friday, requesting $1.5 trillion in military spending — the largest defense appropriation in American history and a 42% increase over the previous year's security expenditure. Central to the proposal is a plan to procure 85 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin, divided across three variants: 38 F-35A aircraft for the Air Force, 10 F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing jets for the Marine Corps, and 37 F-35C carrier-based aircraft for the Navy. The F-35C is already flying combat missions from the USS Abraham Lincoln in the ongoing war against Iran, lending the procurement plan an immediacy that goes well beyond peacetime planning.
The budget is structured in two parts: a base allocation of $1.15 trillion — the first time in history that a base defense budget has crossed the one-trillion-dollar threshold — and a supplemental $350 billion earmarked for war costs and accelerated programs. Of the total, 95% is directed to the Department of Defense, with the remainder divided between nuclear weapons development and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Among the proposal's most significant line items is $17.5 billion for the research and development of the Golden Dome, an advanced layered missile and aerial defense system that President Donald Trump has pledged to complete before the end of his term. The system relies on space-based sensors and interceptor missiles to construct a comprehensive national shield for the United States against missile threats. Trump underscored the budget's confrontational posture with a sharp warning to Tehran, declaring that Iran's largest bridge had been completely destroyed and that others would follow — a signal of an emerging American strategy to dismantle Iran's strategic infrastructure and compel its leadership into submission.
Iran's 93rd wave targets Israeli military facilities
As Washington moved to finance the long game, Tehran struck again. Iranian state media announced that the IRGC launched its 93rd wave of missile and drone attacks against Israel on the evening of Friday, April 3, dedicating the operation to the memory of Hassan Nasrallah, the former secretary-general of Hezbollah, and Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder of the Palestinian Hamas movement. The corps confirmed the use of multiple munition types in the assault, including solid-fuel and liquid-fuel missiles alongside long-range precision-guided weapons. Israeli army support force centers in Western Galilee, Haifa, Kafr Qana, and Kiryat were named among the targets.
Iraq seals its skies for another week
Sandwiched between the warring powers, Iraq announced on Friday, April 3, that the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority had extended the closure of its airspace to all incoming, outgoing, and transiting flights until Friday, April 10. Framed as a temporary precautionary measure, the decision was based on a continuous assessment of the security situation and evolving regional developments, with authorities noting it would be revisited in light of new events. Airlines and all relevant parties were informed of the extension.
Iraq has been forced to close its airspace on multiple occasions since the outbreak of hostilities, with each closure inflicting significant disruption on aviation movement and the country's broader economy. The conflict traces back to the morning of Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, when the United States and Israel launched airstrikes against Iran, killing several senior Iranian officials. Tehran responded swiftly — directing missiles toward Israel while simultaneously striking multiple American military bases across the region — setting in motion the cycle of escalation that continues to define the Middle East's most turbulent chapter in years.