WASHINGTON
\nThe US military has spent over $47 billion so far to prosecute the war in Iran, more than 25 percent higher than the Defense Department\u2019s estimate in July, according to Pentagon data obtained by Reuters.
\nThe Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its estimate, which has not been shared publicly. The disclosure about \u200cthe rising \u200ccost of the Iran war comes as Republicans wrestle with \u200cthe political fallout of the unpopular conflict ahead of the November 3 election that will determine control of Congress for the next two years.
\nThe war\u2019s impact on global energy costs has weighed on support for Republican candidates and hurt President Donald Trump\u2019s approval ratings. Trump\u2019s Republican Party holds a narrow majority in both chambers of Congress. The Pentagon\u2019s latest estimate was tied to the operational costs of carrying out the war, with a projected cost of more than $29 billion to \u200creplace expended munitions used in the conflict.
\nMore than $6 \u200cbillion would be needed to replace military equipment and so-called \u201cplatform losses,\u201d which include \u200cthe loss of aircraft including many drones lost during the war. Trump launched \u200cthe Iran war jointly with Israel in February, predicting that the conflict would last a short time.
\nTrump\u2019s initial strategy in the Iran war focused on first using expensive, high-end precision missiles to bomb Iran\u2019s defenses so it could later use less expensive \u200cmunitions, including gravity bombs like the air-launched JDAMs, which are plentiful. But an April ceasefire gave time for Iran to dig out underground storage facilities, bringing back online some Iranian defenses, as well as missiles and drones that had been inaccessible.
\nTrump has since imposed a naval blockade on Iran to starve it of oil export revenue and held out the possibility of restarting combat operations after the midterm elections. US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say the Pentagon has been planning to restart heavy fighting if ordered to do so.
\nThe latest Pentagon estimate compares to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth\u2019s July estimate of $37.5 billion for the cost of the war. While the figures include a host of operational costs, from flight operations to cyber support, the US military\u2019s Iran war cost estimates did not clearly account for the massive expense expected to repair damage to US bases sustained by Iranian missile and drone attacks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON The US military has spent over $47 billion so far to prosecute the war in Iran, more than 25 percent higher than the Defense Department\u2019s estimate in July, according to Pentagon data obtained by Reuters. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its estimate, which has not been shared […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574863,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-574851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n