Pentagon Seeks More Funding as War With Iran Costs U.S. About $40 Billion

A new CSIS analysis, reported by CNN, says the war with Iran has cost the United States about $40 billion. The figure covers ammunition, lost equipment, and damage to bases, but not normal operating costs already included in the Pentagon’s fiscal 2026 budget, which exceeds $1 trillion.

The biggest expense was ammunition, estimated at about $26 billion. The campaign relied heavily on long-range missiles, which are especially expensive, including Tomahawks priced at about $2.5 million each. The U.S. is estimated to have fired roughly 1,000 Tomahawk missiles during the operation.

The early phase of the fighting was particularly costly, with the first 100 hours costing about $3.7 billion and the first 12 days reaching about $17 billion. CNN said the Pentagon has already asked for an additional $80 billion in funding, including about $20 billion needed immediately because of the war.

At the same time, the U.S. government is in talks with defense companies to speed up weapons production after stockpiles fell during the fighting. On the Iranian side, the war hit the domestic economy hard, but energy exports are rebounding quickly following the agreement with the United States. TankerTrackers said Iran exported 36 million barrels of oil in the last nine days, up sharply from about 250,000 barrels a day under sanctions.

The report says Iran had previously sold oil mainly to China at discounted prices and relied on a shadow fleet to get around restrictions. Iran Open Data estimates sanctions cost the Iranian economy about $37 billion a year on average. Based on oil prices and export volumes, the last nine days of exports are estimated to have brought in about $2.7 billion.