The Pentagon has reported to the US Congress that the conflict with Iran has so far cost the United States $45.1 billion, CNN reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
According to the network, $43.6 billion of that total reflects direct military spending, while another $1.5 billion was spent on additional fuel.
CNN noted that the figure does not capture the full cost of the war. It does not include, among other things, the expense of repairing damaged military bases and buildings. One source told the broadcaster that the Pentagon also did not provide a full breakdown of indirect war-related costs, despite a request from Congress for that information.
An earlier report by the US Congressional Budget Office said that by the beginning of August, military operations against Iran had cost the Pentagon about $38 billion. That means the total rose by $7 billion in the space of a month.
In July, The Washington Post reported that the Pentagon had run into a serious funding shortfall amid the war with Iran. According to the newspaper, the White House had asked Congress to urgently provide $67 billion to cover military expenses. Without that funding, the military would have had to cut spending elsewhere.
Later, the House of Representatives passed a $1.15 trillion defense budget. The measure also provides an additional $73 billion for the Pentagon and intelligence agencies, mainly to cover the costs of the war with Iran.
The conflict has also put pressure not only on public finances but on weapons stockpiles. In early August, CNN reported that over five months of military operations, the US had used nearly 80% of its THAAD interceptor stockpile and about half of its Patriot missile inventory.
Reuters has reported that stocks of ATACMS and Precision Strike Missile systems have also been nearly exhausted, along with almost half of the world’s available Tomahawk missile stockpile.
