 "The US Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Delbert D Black fires a Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) in support of the Operation Epic Fury attack on Iran from an undisclosed location, February 28, 2026. US Navy")
The first six days of the Iran war cost America more than $11.3 billion, US Defense Department officials told senators in a closed-door briefing earlier this week.
The bill, however, does not include several expenditures made in the operation, such as the buildup of military hardware and personnel ahead of the first strikes, and therefore, lawmakers believe that the estimated costs might go up, according to a report by The New York Times.
Media reports earlier had indicated that defence officials had said in recent congressional briefings that the war cost $5.6 billion of munitions in just the first two days. The recent figures add up to a far higher average than previously believed.
Weapons deployed by the US
The first wave of the attack used weapons such as the AGM-154 glide bomb, which costs between $578,000 and $836,000 each. The US Navy purchased about 3,000 of these nearly twenty years ago.
Since then, the US military has indicated it plans to shift toward much cheaper options, like the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM). The smallest JDAM warhead costs around $1,000, while the guidance kit is priced at roughly $38,000.
Republicans divided
While some Republicans have urged the Trump administration to ramp up its spending on munitions production, other GOP leaders are hesitant about the rate at which Washington is driving up its military costs.
Democratic Senator Chris Coons believes that the war amount may go even higher. “I expect that the current total operating number is significantly above that. If all you’re looking at is the replacement cost for the munitions used, it’s already well beyond $10 billion.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s aides are reportedly urging him to publicly present an exit plan from the Iran war as he gives vague timelines for the conflict’s end.
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View AllAccording to a Wall Street Journal report, Trump’s White House allies have asked him to make the case that the military has largely achieved its objectives in the war.
While US officials have sometimes presented different lists of war aims, they generally include destroying Iran’s missile program and navy, ending its support for regional proxy groups, and preventing the country from acquiring a nuclear weapon.