The cost of the Iran war to the US may be close to $40-50 billion when including the costs of rebuilding US military installations and replacing destroyed assets, CNN reported on Thursday.
This contradicts the number presented by Pentagon official Jules “Jay” Hurst, who cited a $25 billion cost before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday. Hurst told the committee that “most” of that cost has been spent on munitions, and that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth declined to answer if that included the cost of damage to US bases.
Last week, Hurst stated that the Pentagon did not have a final cost “for what the damage is to our installations overseas,” adding that it would rely “on how we decide to rebuild those or if we do.”
According to past CNN reports, in the first 48 hours of the war, at least nine US military sites were significantly damaged by strikes on Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, the UAE, and Qatar.
Additionally, Iranian strikes have damaged and destroyed costly equipment across the Middle East, including the radar system for a THAAD missile battery in Jordan and buildings with similar systems at two locations in the UAE.
US says Mideast partners may share the cost of Iran war
An Iranian strike on a Saudi Arabia air base also destroyed a US Air Force E-3 Sentry aircraft.
Hurst suggested that the US may not be the only one shouldering the cost.
“Our partners also might contribute a share for that construction,” Hurst said. “So we don’t have a great estimate for what it would take to reconstitute those facilities.”
The Pentagon has submitted a $1.5 trillion budget request for fiscal year 2027, but due to uncertainties about the cost of the war in Iran, that sum is not reflected in the request.
The request would be a 42% increase to the Pentagon’s funding, CNN cited officials as saying last week.