Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Pentagon officials told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill on March 11 that they estimated the cost of the war against Iran had exceeded $11.3 billion in the first six days alone, according to three people familiar with the briefing.
The New York Times and The Washington Post reported earlier that defense officials had said in recent congressional briefings that the military used up $5.6 billion of munitions in the first two days of the war.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies had estimated that the first 100 hours of the operation cost $3.7 billion, or $891.4 million each day.
These estimates do not include many of the costs associated with the operation, such as the buildup of military hardware and personnel ahead of 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.
Given this deficit, President Donald Trump could ask the Congress for more money to fund the war.