Iran war has cost Pentagon more than $47B: What to know – Al-Monitor

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

US CENTCOM’s latest estimate does not include costs of repairing widespread damage to military bases in the region by Iran’s drone and missile attacks. 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