US Aggression on Iran Cost Tops $47 Billion

By Staff, Agencies 

The US war on Iran has cost the US military at least $47.1 billion as of mid-October, according to a Central Command estimate provided to lawmakers and first reported by CBS News. 

The figure is more than 25% above the $37.5 billion that War Secretary Pete Hegseth gave Congress in July.

Replacing munitions is the largest item, at about $29 billion, followed by $6.1 billion to replace lost equipment and about $11.9 billion in incremental costs such as support for service members.

The Air Force, which has lost dozens of aircraft in the war, has spent the most of any service at $7.6 billion, against $2.1 billion for the Army and $1.5 billion for the Navy, according to USA Today. 

The estimate is $3.5 billion higher than Central Command’s last update, which put the cost at about $43.6 billion in early September. Pentagon officials told lawmakers in March that the first six days of the war cost more than $11.3 billion, and a Pentagon comptroller put the cost at $25 billion soon after.

The figures do not clearly include the cost of repairing US bases severely damaged by Iranian missile and drone strikes, so the true cost is almost certainly higher.

The Congressional Budget Office said last month the war could cost $2 billion to $3 billion a month for as long as it continues.

Congress and the Midterms

The Trump administration asked Congress in June for $87.6 billion in supplemental funding, in part because of the war, and the request has not passed.

Democrats have pressed Hegseth for a more detailed accounting. On the other hand, the Pentagon has not made its latest estimate public.

The disclosure comes days before the November 3 midterm elections, as Republicans, who hold narrow majorities in both chambers of Congress, face the political fallout of a war of choice that has pushed up energy prices and hurt Trump’s approval ratings.

Moody’s Analytics puts the cost to the average American household at about $2,000 so far, and the national average for gasoline was $4.27 a gallon last week against $2.98 before the aggression was launched.

Trump launched the war alongside "Israel" in February, predicting it would be short. However, Iran's strategic resilience and widespread retaliatory campaigns quickly locked the confrontation into a grinding war of attrition.

He has since imposed a naval blockade on Iran and held out the possibility of restarting attacks after the midterms. US officials say the Pentagon has been planning to restart heavy fighting if it is ordered to do so.