Iranian Strikes On US Military Bases Took Massive Toll, Pentagon Watchdog Reveals

Iranian attacks damaged and destroyed “hundreds” of buildings and structures at American military bases across eight Middle Eastern countries while the U.S. burned through more than $22 billion in munitions during Operation Epic Fury.

The Pentagon estimated the war had already cost $33.4 billion as of June 29, including billions in equipment losses and operational expenses, according to a new Department of War Inspector General report. That figure does not include the cost of repairing damaged military infrastructure, meaning the true price tag is likely much higher.

The cofounder of the Security Policy Reform Institute, Stephen Semler, previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the cost was likely around $112.3 billion as of July 26, comparable to U.S. military spending in World War II.

“They’re working off of a baseline cost like the regular DoD budget that was passed in early February, that combined with reconciliation funding pushed the Pentagon budget to over a trillion, which is not normal historically,” Semler told the DCNF. “It’s like peak Iraq and Afghanistan wars and World War II, when spending transcended a trillion dollars in one year in inflation-adjusted terms.”

“To understand the government’s habit of lowballing the cost of wars, consider the war in Iraq,” Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University, previously told the DCNF. “In the Iraq War, the cost estimates initially submitted by the Bush administration were around $200 billion. That war ended up costing $5 trillion, 25 times the original estimate. Using that multiple, if the war winds down rather quickly, we are looking at a final direct cost of the Iran war in the neighborhood of at least $1 trillion.”

The report also documents damage beyond military installations, including roughly $184 million in damage to U.S. embassies, consulates and other diplomatic facilities in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, according to the Department of War Inspector General. The Pentagon’s $33.4 billion estimate excluded the cost of repairing damaged military infrastructure, which Semler said would likely push the war’s true price tag higher.

The Pentagon had previously pushed back on reports describing the destruction as extensive. A military spokesman disputed that characterization in May after satellite imagery showed at least 228 structures or pieces of equipment damaged or destroyed across 15 U.S. military sites, The Washington Post reported.

The inspector general has now formally acknowledged that Iranian strikes damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings and structures across U.S. bases in eight countries.

The fighting also placed significant pressure on U.S. weapons stockpiles. Munitions expenditures during the war created “strategic inventory shortfalls” and exposed bottlenecks in the defense industrial base, the Pentagon’s acquisition and sustainment office told the inspector general.