The acting Assistant War Secretary Jay Hurst said the total cost of the war with Iran was $25 billion so far.
Speaking at a hearing before the House Armed Services Committee, administration officials were asked to confirm the assessed cost of Operation Epic Fury. Hurst, the department comptroller, said, “Approximately this day, we’re spending about $25 billion” on the operation. Most of that is ammunition.
Recommended Stories
Hurst pledged to formulate a supplemental through the White House that will arrive in Congress after the full cost of the war is assessed.
PENTAGON ASKS CONGRESS TO CODIFY ‘DEPARTMENT OF WAR’ NAME AS COSTS EXCEED $50 MILLION
The cost is significantly less than what was previously estimated by analysts. The war is on its 60th day.
According to three U.S. officials speaking with the Washington Post in early March, the United States ate through $5.6 billion worth of munitions during the first two days of strikes alone. The Pentagon told members of Congress at a closed-door briefing around the same time that the first six days of fighting alone cost $11.3 billion. The cost of destroyed or damaged U.S. hardware in the first 100 hours of fighting can be placed at around $2.5 billion.
The early April shootdown of an F-15E Strike Eagle and the operation to rescue the downed airmen were noted as particularly expensive.
Putting all publicly available data together, the war with Iran could have cost a bare minimum of $17.1 billion to $26.1 billion in the first 11 days of fighting. If the Pentagon’s analysis is correct, the daily cost would have had to have been drastically cut down after the first two weeks of bombing.
The falloff in costs can be credited to the destruction of much of Iran’s air defenses, allowing the U.S. to switch to cheaper dumb bombs, rather than precision stand-off munitions.
Previous estimates of the total cost ranged from $25 billion to over $50 billion.
Linda Bilmes, Harvard University’s Daniel Patrick Moynihan Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, went much further in an April 6 interview with the Harvard Kennedy School. She argued that nearly everything was being significantly undercounted — Tomahawk missiles, for example, are valued at $2 million each in inventory, but today cost $3 million to $3.5 million to replace. Patriot missiles interceptors, valued at $1 million to $2 million each in inventory, now cost $4 million to $5 million to replace.
HOW MUCH HAS THE WAR IN IRAN COST THE US?
The initial cost of $11.3 billion over the first six days was an undercount, she estimated, with her own calculations putting the true total at over $16 billion.
Taking all costs together, Bilmes said she was “certain” the U.S., “will reach one trillion dollars for the Iran war.”
