Pentagon officials informed lawmakers in a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday that the war against Iran had already cost more than $11.3 billion in its first six days, according to a report by The New York Times citing three sources familiar with the session.
NYT further reported that this figure does not account for additional expenses such as the deployment of troops and military equipment prior to the initial strikes. Furthermore, lawmakers anticipate that the total cost for the first week will rise significantly as the Pentagon continues to tally all related expenditures.
Earlier reports from The New York Times and The Washington Post indicated that, according to defense officials in recent congressional briefings, the US military expended $5.6 billion worth of munitions in the first two days of the conflict with Iran.
The New York Times reported that the initial wave of strikes used weapons such as the AGM-154 glide bomb, which costs between $578,000 and $836,000 per unit.
The Navy purchased 3,000 of these bombs nearly 20 years ago. Since then, the US military has reportedly shifted to less expensive munitions, like the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), where the smallest warhead costs about $1,000 and the guidance kit adds roughly $38,000, the NYT reported.
Meanwhile, facing volatile global markets and declining approval ratings since launching a war with Iran, US President Donald Trump has oscillated between demanding “unconditional surrender” and signaling willingness to accept an outcome in which Iran simply replaces one hard-line ayatollah with another, AP reported.
The shifting statements from Trump and his top aides have added to the uncertainty of the 12-day-old conflict, which is affecting nearly every part of the Middle East and sending economic shocks worldwide. With neither side yielding, the war is following an unpredictable course, and a clear endgame remains elusive, AP reported.
Making the case to Americans
According to a report by the Associated Press, Trump has faced challenges convincing Americans that his preemptive action against Iran was necessary and consistent with his pledge to avoid the “forever wars” of the past 20 years. So far, the conflict has resulted in seven US troop deaths and around 140 injuries from Iranian retaliatory strikes.
One of Trump’s explanations for launching the war was that he had a “feeling” Iran was preparing to attack the US White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt slightly modified this, saying the president’s feeling was “based on fact.”
However, Pentagon officials have privately told congressional staff that there is no intelligence indicating Iran was planning a preemptive strike against the US, AP reported.
Recent polling suggests Trump’s action has not produced the typical rally-around-the-flag effect seen at the start of past US wars. In a CNN poll, about 60% of US adults said they trusted Trump “not much” or “not at all” to make the right decisions regarding US use of force in Iran.
Deflecting responsibility for school bombing
On the first day of the conflict, a bombing of a girls’ school in southern Iran killed at least 165 people. US President Donald Trump initially blamed Iran, claiming its security forces are “very inaccurate” with munitions.
However, on Monday, after Bellingcat released a verified video showing a US Tomahawk cruise missile striking a Revolutionary Guard facility near the school, Trump maintained that Iran could still be at fault but said he would accept the findings of a US investigation.
Trump also incorrectly suggested that Tehran had access to Tomahawk missiles, which are US-made and available only to the United States and a few close allies.
Iran’s Health Ministry said on March 8 that over 1,200 people had been killed in the conflict, including roughly 200 women and 200 children under 12, with more than 10,000 civilians injured, AFP reported.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported on March 10 that at least 1,787 people had died, including 1,262 civilians, among them at least 200 children, as well as 190 military personnel and 335 others whose status was not classified, AFP reported.
(With inputs from agencies)
