The Iran war has cost $43.6 billion as of this month, the highest official estimate to date, the Pentagon told Congress’ defense oversight panels this week. The cost estimate comes as polls show Americans increasingly oppose the war, partly over its impact on the economy, and the issue is looming large as the November midterm elections approach. The Pentagon’s latest figure comprises $11.2 billion already obligated for operating expenses — for fuel, combat pay, aircraft, medical care, parts and the like — plus $32.4 billion in unfunded replacement costs for munitions, damaged aircraft and other assets, according to a Pentagon document submitted to Congress and viewed by CQ Roll Call. The estimate does not include the cost of addressing potentially billions of dollars in damages to U.S. military facilities in eight Midle East countries. The figure also does not account for future potential costs, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates may be $2 billion to $3 billion a month going forward. Moreover, the Defense Department estimate does not take into account the impact of inflation, which has risen due to war-related restrictions in shipping routes in the region. Multiple estimates The Pentagon's new partial estimate is close to figures publicized earlier this week in separate reports from the department's inspector general and the Congressional Budget Office, both of which cited U.S. military cost figures as the source of their estimates. The new Pentagon estimate of $43.6 billion is current as of Sept. 3, the document said — the most recent reckoning. By comparison, the CBO said the war cost $38.1 billion through July. CBO noted that its estimate does not cover costs associated with diplomatic operations or foreign aid, nor expenses related to military personnel killed or injured, future veterans’ health care and disability compensation or spending or future maintenance costs for military assets used in the conflict. [Related: Iran war has cost $38 billion and counting, CBO says] The IG, meanwhile, put the figure at $33.4 billion. Its estimate ran through June. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testified in July that the war would cost $37.5 billion through the end of September. The Pentagon has asked Congress for $67.1 billion in supplemental spending, partly to recoup war costs. The department's latest cost estimate arrived on Capitol Hill about the same time that nearly every Senate Democrat and independent Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine were signing on to a letter to Hegseth calling for a complete accounting of the war’s costs.
