The US Pentagon has told Congress in a closed-door briefing that more than $ 11.3 billion (about Rs 94,000 crore) has been spent in the first six days of the war against Iran. Three officials involved in this meeting have released these figures. This is the largest estimate of expenditure incurred in the war with Iran that Congress has received so far, but it does not include many expenses.
Military hardware and personal expenses will be included separately
Pentagon officials said that this figure mainly covers the expenditure on weapons and ammunition. The cost of preparing military hardware and personnel in advance is not included in this. For this reason, lawmakers believe that the real number will be much higher, because the counting of the remaining expenses of the first week is still going on.
US used $5.6 billion worth of munitions in two days
In the first two days alone, the US military had used munitions worth $5.6 billion. This is much more than the number publicly disclosed earlier. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) had estimated that spending in the first 100 hours would be $3.7 billion, or about $891 million a day, but in reality spending is increasing much faster than this.
The weapons used in the first attacks included AGM-154 glide bombs, whose price ranges from 5.78 lakh to 8.36 lakh dollars. The US Navy had purchased 3,000 such bombs two decades ago. Now the military is shifting towards cheaper options like Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), where the small warhead costs only $ 1,000 and the guidance kit around $ 38,000.
Debate on this expenditure intensifies in Congress
Some Republican senators, such as Mitch McConnell (Kentucky), have repeatedly said that America should increase munitions production, but other Republicans and Democrats are hesitant about the supplemental funding package. They want the Trump administration to give more details about the objectives, scope and endgame of the war. Democrats have said they will not support emergency funding without a complete strategy.
Congress worried about increasing burden on taxpayers
This war started on 28 February 2026 with joint strikes of America and Israel. Thousands of people have been killed so far, mostly Iranians and Lebanese. The conflict has spread to Lebanon and is affecting important oil routes like the Strait of Hormuz, causing turmoil in the global energy market. Oil prices are rising and there is tension all over the world.
The Trump administration had earlier said that the war would end soon, but now these expenditure figures are showing how expensive it is becoming. Questions are being raised in Congress whether this war will last long and how much burden will it put on American taxpayers?
