The first six days of the war with Iran cost the U.S. more than $11.3 billion, Pentagon officials reportedly told Congress in a closed-door briefing on Tuesday.
That figure, reported by The New York Times, does not factor in other likely costs from the conflict, including the buildup of personnel and hardware before hostilities began on February 28.
Democratic lawmakers left the briefing on Tuesday, outraged by what they said was a lack of detail from the Trump administration.
“I emerge from this briefing as dissatisfied and angry, frankly, as I have from any past briefing in my 15 years,” Senator Richard Blumenthal told reporters.
“I am left with more questions than answers, especially about the cost of the war,” he added.
“Here we are well into the second week, and it is still the case that the Trump administration cannot explain the reasons that we entered this war, the goals we’re trying to accomplish, and the methods for doing that,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren said after the briefing.
“We do not comment on closed-door discussions or matters,” the Pentagon told The Independent. “Regarding the cost of Operation Epic Fury, we won’t know the cost until the mission is complete.”
Democrats are pushing for public hearings about the war with testimony from top Trump administration officials, as Congress braces for the potential of funding requests from the administration for further operations.
Thus far, their efforts to rein in the war have been fruitless, with both houses shooting down War Powers Act resolutions last week.
Part of the cost may stem from the U.S. reliance on pricey military hardware, whereas Iran has leaned on low-cost, one-way attack drones to devastating effect.
The U.S. reportedly denied an offer last year from Ukraine to help with anti-drone defenses, only to seek out the battle-hardened nation’s help amid the Iran conflict.
A total of seven U.S. troops have so far been killed since the conflict began last month.
The war has impacted U.S. finances in other ways, driving up oil prices and driving down the value of major U.S. stock indexes.
Americans remain broadly unsupportive of the war, according to polls.
President Trump has claimed the U.S. has all but “won” the conflict, even though elsewhere he has said it could last for over a month and potentially require U.S. boots on the ground.
“We won,” the president told a crowd of supporters on Wednesday. “In the first hour it was over.”
The administration has vacillated about what an end to the conflict will look like, alternatively promising not to be involved in Iraq war-style nation building and suggesting President Trump will personally help choose the new political leaders of Iran.
Beyond the financial impact of the war, the U.S. is facing a brewing scandal over likely ties to a February strike on a girls primary school that killed more than 150 people.
The military has reportedly privately determined the U.S. was behind the missile strike, though U.S. officials have said in public it is still under review.
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