The United States spent more than $11.3 billion during the first six days of its war with Iran, lawmakers were told during a Pentagon briefing, according to a report by The New York Times highlighting the rapid pace at which the conflict is consuming military resources.
Gatekeepers News reports that Citing unnamed sources familiar with the closed-door briefing held Tuesday, the newspaper reported that members of Congress were informed that the figure does not include several costs associated with the military buildup before the strikes, suggesting the final total for the first week could rise significantly.
US defence officials had earlier told Congress that approximately $5.6 billion worth of munitions were used in just the first two days of fighting, according to US media reports — a rate of expenditure far higher than previously estimated.
Meanwhile, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), an independent policy research organisation based in Washington, estimated that the first 100 hours of the military campaign known as Operation Epic Fury cost about $3.7 billion, or more than $891 million per day.
CSIS said that about $3.5 billion of those costs had not been previously budgeted.
Another estimate from the Iran War Cost Tracker, which monitors the financial impact of the war in real time, showed the total cost of the conflict exceeding $17 billion as of around 08:00 GMT on Thursday.
According to the tracker, the United States is currently spending about $1 billion daily on the war effort.
However, the site noted that the actual cost of the conflict could be much higher because the calculations do not include long-term expenses such as healthcare and benefits for military veterans.
