The $25 billion estimate that a top Pentagon official gave to lawmakers on Wednesday for the total cost to date of the Iran war is a lowball figure that does not include the cost of repairing extensive damage suffered by US bases in the region, three people familiar with the matter told CNN.
One of the sources said the real cost estimate is closer to $40-50 billion when accounting for the costs of rebuilding US military installations and replacing destroyed assets.
Iranian strikes across the Gulf in the early days of the war significantly damaged at least nine US military sites in just 48 hours, hitting facilities in Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, the UAE and Qatar.
Several critical US radar systems and other equipment across the Middle East were also apparently destroyed by Iranian strikes, including the radar system for an American THAAD missile battery in Jordan and buildings housing similar radar systems at two locations in the United Arab Emirates. A US Air Force E-3 Sentry aircraft was also destroyed in an Iranian strike on a Saudi Arabia air base.
Jules “Jay” Hurst III, the Pentagon official currently working as the agency’s comptroller, told the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday that “most” of the $25 billion cost he cited has been spent on munitions, and Secretary of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declined to say whether that figure included repairing damage to US bases.
During budget briefings for reporters last week, Hurst said the Pentagon does not “have a final number for what the damage is to our installations overseas,” and it depends “on how we decide to rebuild those, or if we do.”
