The Pentagon has raised its estimate of the cost of the Iran war to $29 billion, though the figure remains well below projections from several think tanks.
In late April, acting Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst told lawmakers in Congress that the war had cost Washington around $25 billion.
Testifying in a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday, Hurst revised the assessment, attributing most of the costs to US munition stockpiles used against Iran.
However, according to journalist and Security Policy Reform Institute co-founder Stephen Semler, Washington spent an estimated $71.8 billion in just the first 60 days of the war.
Expended munitions made up more than $41 billion of the total, with military operations costs and damage to US regional assets and bases accounting for most of the rest, he wrote in an article for Popular Information last week, citing military procurement data and officials’ statements.
At a conservative estimate, the war forced the US to burn through around half of its stocks of critical interceptors, such as Patriot and THAAD missiles, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). As a high estimate, the US may have used up to 80% of its stockpile of THAAD interceptors, which “are the most critical due to their low inventory and lack of alternatives,” the think tank wrote in April.
Washington has also overstated the damage to Iran’s missile capabilities, which US president Donald Trump has claimed were largely destroyed, the New York Times wrote on Tuesday.
At the same time, Tehran has retained around 70% of its mobile launchers and 70% of its prewar stockpile of missiles, as well as regained access to 90% of its underground munitions storage and launch facilities, the newspaper wrote, citing US intelligence estimates.
Iran has also restored 30 of 33 coastal missile sites along the Strait of Hormuz, it added.
The key shipping corridor has become the focal point of a tense standoff between the US and Iran, as Washington maintains its blockade of Iranian ports, with neither side giving ground in negotiations.