The United States has spent $33.4 billion on its six-month war with Iran, according to the first official accounting of the campaign’s costs released by the Pentagon’s inspector general. The report, covering February 28 to June 30, lays bare the scale of losses in aircraft, infrastructure and ammunition.
Munitions alone accounted for more than $22 billion of the total. Equipment losses added another $3.7 billion, with miscellaneous expenditures bringing the bill to $7.4 billion more.
The aircraft losses are striking. At least four F-15E fighter jets were destroyed, three of them by friendly fire over Kuwait on March 1. An F-35A stealth fighter was damaged by Iranian fire in March, and an A-10 ground-attack aircraft was shot down. Seven KC-135 aerial-refuelling tankers were damaged or destroyed, while an E-3 Sentry early-warning aircraft was hit at a Saudi airbase. Helicopter and drone losses included an AH-64 Apache, an HH-60W, and as many as 30 MQ-9 Reaper drones.
On the ground, Iranian attacks damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings and structures at US military installations across Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan. US diplomatic facilities were also hit, with damage estimated at $184 million. Iraq bore the heaviest burden, with over 600 attacks on US diplomatic missions by the end of June, costing nearly $157 million.
The report flagged another concern: ammunition shortfalls. The inspector general noted “strategic inventory shortfalls” and “industrial base bottlenecks” in replenishing stocks, a finding that contradicts President Trump’s repeated claims that US ammunition supplies are “virtually unlimited.”
At least 11 US military personnel were killed in action and 417 were wounded through June 30. Seven others died in non-hostile incidents.
Iran’s foreign minister responded by pointing to the Pentagon’s own figures as evidence that claims of Iranian defeat were overstated, warning that Tehran would reveal more details in due course.
With no diplomatic breakthrough in sight, the war’s costs continue to mount.
(Source: India Today)
