Amid growing questions about the goals of the US-Israel war Iran, multiple media reported that Pentagon officials told lawmakers during a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday that the estimated cost of the conflict exceeded $11.3 billion in the first six days.
According The New York Timeswhich first reported the news, the figure did not include associated costs, such as preparing military equipment and personnel before the initial attacks.
“I expect the current total operational number to be significantly higher than that,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) told reporters Wednesday, according to NBC News. “If the only thing we take into account is the cost of replacing the ammunition used, it already far exceeds $10 billion.”
In a statement to the outlet, a Pentagon spokesperson said: “We do not comment on closed-door discussions or matters. As for the cost of Operation Epic Fury, we will not know until the mission is completed.”
The New York Times and Washington Post He previously reported that in previous briefings to Congress, defense officials said the military had used $5.6 billion worth of ammunition in the first two days of the war. The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated that the first 100 hours of the operation racked up $3.7 billion in costs, or $891.4 million per day, per The times.
The Trump administration had indicated it would send a request for supplemental war funding to Congress, but Sen. Roger Wicker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Wednesday that he did not expect the request this month. The Associated Press saying.
It is still unclear how long the war will last or its end. President donald trump and his Cabinet have offered conflicting updates on the conflict. During a telephone interview with CBS News On Monday, Trump said the war with Iran is “pretty much complete.” However, during a CBS 60 minutes interview Recorded a few days earlier, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he wanted viewers to know that “this is just the beginning.”
Later Monday, a reporter asked the president during a news conference: “You said the war is ‘very complete,’ but your defense secretary says, ‘This is just the beginning.’ So what is it?
“You could say both,” Trump responded at the time. “It’s the beginning of building a new country… We could call it a tremendous success right now (getting out of here, you could say) or we could go further, and we will go further.”
