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The first week of the war involving United States and Iran has cost Washington more than $11.3 billion, according to lawmakers briefed by the United States Department of Defense.
The estimate was revealed during a closed-door briefing at the Pentagon and later reported by The New York Times, which cited sources familiar with the meeting.
According to the report, the $11.3 billion figure does not include many expenses associated with the military buildup that preceded the strikes, suggesting the actual cost of the first week of fighting could be significantly higher.
Earlier briefings to members of the United States Congress indicated that about $5.6 billion worth of munitions were used in the first two days of combat alone, reflecting a much faster rate of spending than initially expected.
Analysts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated that the first 100 hours of Operation Epic Fury, the name used for the US military campaign, cost approximately $3.7 billion, or more than $891 million per day.
According to the think tank, roughly $3.5 billion of those expenses had not previously been included in the US defence budget, highlighting the financial strain created by the rapid pace of the operation.
Meanwhile, the online monitoring platform Iran War Cost Tracker estimated that the total cost of the war had already exceeded $17 billion as of around 08:00 GMT on Thursday, March 11. The site estimates that the United States is currently spending about $1 billion per day on the conflict.
However, analysts caution that the true financial burden of the war is likely much higher, since current estimates do not include long-term costs such as veterans’ healthcare, military equipment replacement and future operational expenses linked to the conflict.
