Pentagon’s $25 billion claim masks true cost of war on Iran as US losses mount: Sources

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 30 April 2026 6:49 AM

The Pentagon’s $25 billion estimate for the illegal war on Iran is increasingly seen as misleading, with new details pointing to far greater financial costs and significant US military damage inflicted by Iran’s defensive strikes, a report says.

The $25 billion figure presented by a senior Pentagon official to lawmakers on Wednesday as the total cost of the war so far significantly underestimates reality, CNN reported, citing three unnamed sources familiar with internal assessments.

New revelations expose both the scale of US losses and the growing burden of the unprovoked war of aggression that Washington initiated, in close collaboration with Israel, against Iran on February 28.

According to the sources, the $25 billion figure excludes the extensive damage inflicted on US military bases across the region.

One of the sources noted that when reconstruction and replacement of destroyed assets are taken into account, the real cost likely ranges between $40 billion and $50 billion.

In the early phase of the war, Iranian strikes across the Persian Gulf caused substantial damage to at least nine US military installations within just 48 hours, targeting sites in Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Qatar, CNN said.

These attacks destroyed critical radar systems and other key equipment, including the radar of a US THAAD missile battery in Jordan and similar facilities at two locations in the UAE, the report added. An American Air Force E-3 Sentry aircraft was also destroyed in a strike on a Saudi air base, underscoring the scale and precision of Iran’s response.

Despite these losses, Pentagon comptroller Jules “Jay” Hurst III told the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday that “most” of the cited $25 billion had been spent on munitions, while War Secretary Pete Hegseth avoided confirming whether the estimate accounted for repairing damaged bases.

Last week, Hurst said during budget briefings for reporters that the Pentagon does not “have a final number for what the damage is to our installations overseas,” and that it depends “on how we decide to rebuild those, or if we do.”

He also admitted that repair costs are “not reflected” in the department’s proposed $1.5 trillion budget for fiscal year 2027, which would mark a 42 percent increase in military spending.

Lawmakers have already cast grave doubts on the figure, with Democratic Representative Ro Khanna calling it “totally off” during Wednesday’s hearing.

Earlier disclosures had already suggested the war cost about $11 billion in just its first six days, while the Pentagon has sought over $200 billion in additional funding from the White House to sustain the aggression.

Even this massive request leaves uncertainty, as officials continue to assess future construction plans and hope that allied partners might cover part of the rebuilding costs.

Citing two senior American officials, The Atlantic, a Washington-based news outlet, reported on Monday that US Vice President JD Vance, in private meetings, has repeatedly challenged the Pentagon’s optimistic portrayal of the war, raising concerns that the Defense Department is in fact downplaying the severe depletion of US missile reserves.

Furthermore, despite official optimism, internal intelligence paints a very different picture. Sources familiar with classified assessments indicate that Iran still retains roughly two-thirds of its air force, most of its missile-launching infrastructure, and a significant fleet of fast naval vessels capable of launching naval operations in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which is now under Iran’s full control.

Far from Hegseth’s predictions of a quick, decisive win, the war on Iran has now drifted into a costly, indeterminate muddle. While the Islamic Republic remains a formidable power, the US faces mounting military strain and deepening divisions at the highest levels of government.

In response to the US-Israeli all-out aggression, which soon turned into a regional conflict, Iranian Armed Forces responded with over 100 waves of retaliatory strikes, codenamed Operation True Promise 4, launching hundreds of ballistic and hypersonic missiles as well as drone attacks against sensitive and strategic American and Israeli targets throughout the region.