CBO: Iran war has cost Pentagon $38B

Sept. 16 (UPI) — The war with Iran has cost the United States approximately $38 billion, according to a new Congressional Budget Office report published amid a stalemate in the conflict.

The United States has been waging war against Iran since Feb. 28, with months of both intense and mild conflict, and appears at an impasse with no sight of a resolution on the horizon.

The CBO report published Tuesday estimated the cost of the war to the Pentagon as of Aug. 1. The $38 billion figure reflects the costs of replacing expended munitions and equipment lost in battle, flying hours, other operational costs and increased fuel expenditures, though it does not include costs incurred by other parts of the federal government, it said.

Projections show that costs to the Department of Defense will increase at a rate of $2 billion a month if fighting remains low and sporadic as it was in May and June, but could increase to $3 billion if fighting intensifies to the level seen in July.

Despite the Trump administration’s repeated claims that the military’s stockpiles of munitions remained high, the report states that the main opportunity cost of the war has been the large expenditure of missile defense interceptors. It said the war will leave the United States at “a reduced inventory” of interceptors for several years.

The report warned that the shortfall would be “especially problematic” if conflict arose with a country such as China, which is believed to maintain a large arsenal of ballistic and cruise missiles and that the weaponry would play a significant role if Beijing attempted to seize Taiwan, a longstanding objective of the Chinese Communist Party.

The U.S. military has also lost 43 pieces of military equipment, including 11 fixed-wing crewed aircraft, 25 drones and a THAAD radar, which would cost between $1.9 billion and $3.3 billion to replace, it said.

For Americans, the conflict has surged energy prices, which has worsened inflation.

The CBO estimates that higher energy costs attributed to the war added 2.3 percentage points to the annualized inflation rate in the second quarter of the year. The war, it said, is projected to cause the inflation rate in the first quarter of next year to be 0.5 percentage points higher than the CBO had previously forecast.

Democrats were quick to chastise President Donald Trump for launching the war, which has resulted in the deaths of at least 18 U.S. service members and injured hundreds more.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said in a statement that the war was a “one-two punch burning a hole in Americans’ pockets and burning a hole in our munitions supply.”

“This war is a betrayal of the American people, and it needs to end,” she said in a statement.

In June, the Trump administration requested $87.6 billion in supplemental appropriations, of which $67.1 billion was for the Pentagon to pay for the war.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., criticized Trump not only for starting the war but for having “no idea” how to end it.

“His hubris is costing America billions and forcing families to pay more for everyday essentials,” he said.