{"id":536,"date":"2026-09-15T19:37:46","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T19:37:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/?p=536"},"modified":"2026-09-15T19:37:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T19:37:46","slug":"iran-war-costs-38-billion-as-cbo-warns-of-higher-inflation-depleted-weapons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/?p=536","title":{"rendered":"Iran war costs $38 billion as CBO warns of higher inflation, depleted weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Ships are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz on Aug. 10, 2026, off the coast of Bandar Abbas, Iran. (Ali Saeedi\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

(WASHINGTON) — The\u00a0war with Iran<\/span>\u00a0has\u00a0cost the United States at least $38 billion\u00a0through the end of July\u00a0and is expected to further push inflation higher for American households, according to a nonpartisan\u00a0Congressional Budget Office (CBO) assessment released Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0CBO\u00a0also\u00a0warned\u00a0that depleted weapon stocks\u00a0could take a half decade or longer to rebuild,\u00a0crippling the Pentagon\u2019s ability to respond to another major\u00a0conflict.<\/p>\n

The assessment describes the financial and military consequences that will persist beyond the fighting, leaving the Pentagon with fewer weapons available for another major conflict while skyrocketing energy prices put pressure on household budgets.<\/p>\n

The report notes that the Pentagon did not cooperate with the analysis or provide information requested by the Congressional Budget Office. The Pentagon did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment on the report.<\/p>\n

The CBO serves as Congress\u2019 scorekeeper, providing lawmakers with independent estimates of federal spending and the costs of legislation. Its reports noted it relied heavily on public information.<\/p>\n

The budget office\u2019s estimate covers direct costs from the U.S. and Israel launching their campaign against Iran on Feb. 28 through Aug. 1, excluding expenses related to U.S. bases devastated by Iranian bombardments.<\/p>\n

Munitions account for most of the spending. CBO projects another $2 to $3 billion in monthly costs, but says the bill could climb during sustained fighting.<\/p>\n

Americans will also bear what could be mounting costs adding to already inflation rates, with projections estimating the consequences of the war to add roughly a half percentage point to the inflation rate early next year, meaning the costs of goods, housing and food will continue to rise, driven largely by climbing energy prices stemming from supply disruptions in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Depleted weapons stockpiles<\/strong><\/p>\n

The war has significantly depleted U.S. inventories of missiles and anti-air defense weapons, leaving fewer munitions available for another major conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe shortfall would become especially problematic if a conflict arose with an opponent whose arsenal included large numbers of ballistic and cruise missiles,\u201d the CBO said in its report.<\/p>\n

Those concerns predate the Iran war. A congressionally mandated\u00a0commission\u00a0<\/span>warned in 2024 that the U.S. could largely exhaust its munitions inventories within three to four weeks of a conflict with China. Some critical weapons, including anti-ship missiles, could run out within days.<\/p>\n

\u201cMissile defense interceptors are in short supply because they have been produced at relatively low rates; thus, DoD\u2019s inventory of such missiles was limited,\u201d the CBO said in its report.<\/p>\n

A Pentagon inspector general\u00a0report\u00a0<\/span>on Monday came to the same conclusion that the massive expenditure of munitions against Iran has “resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls,\u201d which revealed significant issues with U.S. force\u2019s ability to resupply, as missiles take years to build. Persistent bottlenecks include the complexity and daunting list of materials and the recruitment of skilled labor to build them.<\/p>\n

Patriot and SM-6 interceptors, used to shoot down incoming missiles and drones, cost roughly $4 million each, according to the CBO. THAAD interceptors cost about $12 million apiece, while more advanced SM-3 interceptors can cost roughly $28 million each.<\/p>\n

The stark warning on munitions shortages comes just days after Adm. Brad Cooper, the war\u2019s top commander, said in an interview on CBS Sunday that he\u2019s not concerned about munitions depletions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re armed and ready for any contingency,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump on Monday dismissed the Pentagon IG’s report. The administration has maintained the Pentagon can continue fighting with the arsenal it has.<\/p>\n

Care for casualties, damage to bases will push up costs<\/strong><\/p>\n

The war\u2019s ultimate cost is likely to be far higher once decades of veterans\u2019 disability payments and medical care are included. More than 800 U.S. troops have been wounded, with traumatic brain injuries emerging as the conflict\u2019s signature wound.<\/p>\n

\u201cCounting munitions expended while leaving veterans\u2019 care and benefits is not a real war-cost analysis,\u201d Rep. Mark Takano, the ranking Democrat on the House Veterans Affairs Committee said in a statement to ABC News. \u201cIt is a bill sent to veterans and taxpayers later.\u201d<\/p>\n

CBO\u2019s estimate excludes much of the costs associated with the damage to U.S. bases in the Middle East, including those in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan, some of which have been devastated by Iranian bombardments. Pentagon planners have long anticipated shrinking the military\u2019s footprint in the region to shift resources to the Pacific.<\/p>\n

The analysis comes as Congress has not enacted funding to cover the costs of the Iran war. In July, the House passed a $95 billion budget blueprint to provide up to $60 billion for military funding. The plan would also provide up to $13 billion for intelligence costs, totaling $73 billion to cover the Iran war.<\/p>\n

The Senate has no immediate plans to move on the budget blueprint to provide Iran war funding before the midterm elections. Historically, conflicts have had special supplemental funding as to not eat much into the military\u2019s day-to-day operational needs in its $1 trillion budget.<\/p>\n

ABC News was first to\u00a0report\u00a0<\/span>that the Army has dramatically scaled down much of its training this year, partly to accommodate the enormous surprise expense of the conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, not before the election. No, I mean that’ll probably be a post-election push,\u201d Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

House Budget Committee ranking Democrat Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania said the report \u201cmakes clear that the war has also cost American taxpayers tens of billions of dollars and counting, while continuing to drive up costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDonald Trump and Republicans have spent years telling Americans that we cannot afford to help families here at home, but apparently they can find tens of billions of dollars, and potentially much more, for a reckless war that is leaving Americans to pay the price,\u201d Boyle said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ships are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz on Aug. 10, 2026, off the coast of Bandar Abbas, Iran. (Ali Saeedi\/Getty Images) (WASHINGTON) — The\u00a0war with Iran\u00a0has\u00a0cost the United States at least $38 billion\u00a0through the end of July\u00a0and is expected to further push inflation higher for American households, according to a nonpartisan\u00a0Congressional Budget Office (CBO) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":657,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}