US Spent More Than $11bn in First Week of Iran War, Report Says

The United States has spent more than $11.3 billion during the first six days of its military campaign against Iran, according to lawmakers briefed at the Pentagon, a report by The New York Times said.

The newspaper, citing sources familiar with Tuesday’s closed-door briefing, reported that the amount excludes several expenses tied to the military buildup ahead of the strikes, suggesting the overall cost of the first week may be considerably higher.

US defence officials had earlier told Congress that about $5.6 billion worth of weapons and munitions were used in the first two days of the conflict — indicating a much faster rate of spending than initially projected.

An analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) estimated that the opening 100 hours of Operation Epic Fury alone cost about $3.7 billion, or roughly $891 million per day.

According to CSIS, about $3.5 billion of that spending had not been included in existing defence budgets.

Meanwhile, the Iran War Cost Tracker, which monitors the financial toll of the conflict in real time, showed the total cost had exceeded $17 billion by 08:00 GMT Thursday.

The tracker estimates that the United States is currently spending around $1 billion daily on the war.

However, it cautioned that the real cost is likely much higher because the calculations do not include long-term obligations such as veterans’ healthcare and other post-war costs.

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