Pentagon officials reportedly told congressional lawmakers Tuesday that the first six days of the war with Iran cost more than $11.3 billion.
The New York Times reports that the estimate, delivered at a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill, is the most comprehensive calculation of the early cost of the military effort — but still “omitted several aspects of the operation,” such as the buildup in the Persian Gulf region before the first strikes. “For that reason, lawmakers expect the number to grow considerably as the Pentagon continues to calculate the costs that accumulated just in the first week,” the Times’s Catie Edmondson writes.
Earlier reports said that Defense Department officials had told lawmakers that the military used $5.6 billion worth of munitions in just the first two days of the war.
The preliminary cost assessments come as the Trump administration is still widely expected to request that Congress provide a supplemental funding package totaling $50 billion or more. President Trump has also said he wants Congress to deliver a massive $500 billion boost to the annual defense budget, raising it to $1.5 trillion.