The $38 Billion Iran War Bill Has a Pentagon Blind Spot

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the Iran war had cost the United States at least $38 billion, according to The Guardian. The CBO also reportedly said the Defense Department did not respond to its requests for information, forcing it to build much of its estimate from public reporting.

The CBO estimated that the cost could rise by approximately $3 billion for every additional month of fighting, depending on the conflict’s intensity. It also said it could not estimate the cost of repairing bomb-damaged U.S. bases or future diplomatic and foreign-aid costs connected to the war.

The weapons bill is already substantial. The CBO estimated that replacing weapons expended in the war would cost $21.7 billion, including $13.1 billion for missile-defense interceptors. It reportedly projected that rebuilding Patriot, THAAD and Navy interceptor stocks could take at least five years, even if production increased.

The reported damage extends beyond expended munitions. The CBO said Iranian attacks damaged or destroyed structures at U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan, while also saying it could not estimate the repair costs.

In June, the White House requested $87.6 billion in supplemental funding, including $67.1 billion for the Pentagon. The CBO judged approximately $42.3 billion of that Pentagon request to be tied to the Iran conflict after excluding funding it considered unrelated to combat operations.

The request included $12.1 billion for classified programs that the CBO could not examine. The supplied reporting does not establish whether every one of those programs was directly tied to the war or whether the classification was justified.

The Pentagon inspector general separately reported $33.4 billion in total war spending and $22.3 billion in munitions spending through June 30. The supplied reporting does not reconcile those figures with the later CBO estimate of at least $38 billion, leaving timing, scope or methodology as unresolved possibilities.

The information gap appeared as Representative Thomas Massie read eight articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on September 15. The articles alleged unauthorized war-making, disregard for a war-powers resolution, insufficient regard for civilian-casualty protections and other constitutional violations. The allegations have not been adjudicated in the supplied record.

The Pentagon did not directly address the allegations in the response reported by The Guardian, instead calling Hegseth a “transformative leader” and saying the department was unified behind his vision. Al Jazeera, citing Reuters, reported that the impeachment effort faced long odds in the Republican-majority House. Taken together, the reported nonresponse and unestimated cost categories support calling this an accountability blind spot, not proof of intentional concealment or a final calculation of the war’s liability.