Iran war has cost Pentagon more than $47B: What to know

WASHINGTON — The US military’s involvement in the war against Iran has cost the Pentagon some $47.1 billion, mostly in munitions, according to an unclassified estimate provided to Congress last week that was reviewed by Al-Monitor. 

That’s up $3.5 billion since US Central Command’s previous estimate provided to lawmakers in mid-September, and $9.6 billion since July.

Major US air and naval combined strikes against Iran largely stopped in June with the signing of the Islamabad ceasefire memorandum, but the US has sporadically launched limited strikes in Iran since then in a bid to halt Iranian attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Munitions expenditures have cost the department nearly $30 billion since the war began in February, dwarfing all other estimated costs. Combat air operations have cost an estimated $7.6 billion, while the US Navy-led blockade of Iran, enforced by roughly 20 surface warships, has cost $1.5 billion, according to CENTCOM’s estimates, which were first reported by The New York Times. 

But the latest breakdown does not include the projected costs of repairing widespread damage to US bases and military infrastructure in the region, which have suffered repeated waves of precision ballistic missile and drone attacks by Iran.

The Pentagon’s acting comptroller, Jay Hurst, told Senate lawmakers in July that those costs could not be estimated due to uncertainty about future plans to fund rebuilding efforts in coordination with host countries.

A group of five Democratic senators on the Armed Services Committee last week wrote an open letter to CENTCOM’s top commander, Adm. Brad Cooper, urging him to publicly reveal the estimated rebuilding costs, which they wrote he had briefed to committee members in a classified setting.

“Even if DoD has not yet determined which facilities it is planning to rebuild, disclosing these costs represents the bare minimum transparency DoD owes the public,” read the letter, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).