Jay Hurst, the Pentagon's senior budget official, told a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Tuesday that $29 billion has been spent so far on the military campaign against Iran.
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The cost of the US military campaign against Iran is rapidly increasing. Although the Pentagon has admitted that it has spent about $29 billion so far, experts claim that the real cost is many times higher.
When long-term military costs, veterans' health care, rebuilding damaged military infrastructure and the cost of producing new weapons are added, the war could ultimately cost the US up to $1 trillion.
Jay Hurst, the Pentagon's senior budget official, told a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Tuesday that the military campaign against Iran has so far cost $29 billion. The Pentagon had previously estimated that the US Congress would spend about $25 billion.
However, the estimate has been revised again after recent operational costs, equipment maintenance and military equipment replacement costs increased.
According to Hurst, the daily costs of deploying troops in the war zone, repairing damaged equipment, restoring missile systems and maintaining military readiness have significantly increased the cost.
He The current estimate of $29 billion does not include the cost of damage to US military bases in the Middle East.
“The full cost of damage to military bases in the region has not yet been assessed,” Hurst said. According to the American media outlet CNN, internal assessments conducted within the Pentagon indicate that the real cost of the war will be much higher.
When calculating the cost of rebuilding damaged infrastructure, replacing military assets and additional military readiness, the cost is estimated to reach $40 billion to $50 billion.
However, a recent study by the Harvard Kennedy School shows that the situation could be even more serious. War budget expert Linda Bilmes claims that the total cost of the Iran war will eventually reach $1 trillion. According to her, the cost currently disclosed is only a small part of the real cost of the war, and its economic burden will increase significantly in the coming years.
Bilmes said that short-term direct military spending alone is about $2 billion per day. This includes missile launches, interceptor system operations, aircraft carrier battle group operations, combat allowances for soldiers, equipment repairs, and replacement of damaged military equipment, he said.
According to the research report, the US had used at least $16 billion worth of military equipment in the first few days of the war. This expenditure has been much higher than the Pentagon's initial estimates due to the rapid use of expensive missile systems and high operational costs.
According to Bilmes, the US fired more Patriot missiles in the first four days of the Iran war than it had provided to Ukraine in the previous four years. He said that the US military stockpile is rapidly emptying and their re-production is very expensive at current market prices.
According to him, while the old price of Tomahawk missiles in the US inventory was about $2 million, it now costs $3 million to $3.5 million to re-produce the same missile.
Similarly, while the old cost of Patriot missiles was $1 million to $2 million, the price of new versions has reached $4 million to $5 million per unit. He said similar price increases have been seen in fuel, military equipment and other supplies.
