{"id":43147,"date":"2026-03-09T18:04:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T18:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=43147"},"modified":"2026-03-09T18:04:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T18:04:26","slug":"us-operations-against-iran-rack-up-over-10b-in-just-10-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=43147","title":{"rendered":"US operations against Iran rack up over $10b in just 10 days"},"content":{"rendered":"
The United States military campaign against Iran has racked up an estimated $10.35 billion in costs in just 10 days \u2014\u00a0an average of more than $1b\u00a0per day.<\/p>\n

The figure represents roughly 1.23% of the entire 2026 US defence budget, according to estimates and data compiled by Anadolu.<\/p>\n

US forces spent an estimated $779 million in the first 24 hours alone as the operation began, Anadolu estimates.<\/p>\n

As the campaign has expanded, operational spending has climbed into the billions, based on estimated flight hours, maintenance costs and munitions expenditures derived from the US Department of Defence\u2019s 2025 and 2026 budget requests.<\/p>\n

Read More: \u2018Operation Epic Fury\u2019 burns an estimated $5.82b in just 100 hours<\/p>\n

Data from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) shows that the first 100 hours of operations cost about $3.3b. When scaled to 10 days, that estimate rises to nearly $8b.<\/p>\n

US asset losses<\/p>\n

In addition to operational spending, Iran has also damaged or destroyed an estimated $2.55b\u00a0worth of US military equipment, according to Anadolu estimates.<\/p>\n

The largest single loss appears to be a US AN\/FPS-132 early warning radar system at Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, valued at $1.1b, which was struck by an Iranian missile when retaliatory attacks began on February 28. Qatari authorities confirmed that the radar was hit and damaged.<\/p>\n

During its initial retaliatory strike, Iran also struck the US Navy\u2019s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Manama, Bahrain, destroying two satellite communications terminals and several large buildings.<\/p>\n

Open-source intelligence reports have identified the targeted communication terminals as AN\/GSC-52Bs, with an estimated cost of $20 million, factoring in deployment and installation costs.<\/p>\n

In addition to the terminals lost in Bahrain, satellite imagery analysed by The New York Times of Camp Arifjan in Kuwait also showed three destroyed radomes, adding roughly $30m\u00a0in additional damage.<\/p>\n

On the second day of strikes, three F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets were lost in a friendly-fire incident involving Kuwaiti air defences. While all six aircrew survived, the aircraft were destroyed, with replacement costs estimated at $282m.<\/p>\n

US officials told CBS News\u00a0on Friday that three MQ-9 Reaper surveillance drones belonging to the US Air Force had been downed earlier in the conflict, at a cost of about $90m. Since then, another MQ-9 Reaper drone was reportedly shot down by IRGC Aerospace forces over Iran\u2019s Hormozgan Province, bringing the total tally to $120m.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, at least two AN\/TPY-2 radar components belonging to the THAAD missile defence system appear to have been destroyed in separate strikes in the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, with each system valued at approximately $500m.<\/p>\n

Read More: US loses nearly $2b worth of military equipment in first 4 days of Iran war<\/p>\n

There are also reports that another system has been hit in the UAE, though that claim has not yet been confirmed by satellite imagery or official statements.<\/p>\n

Cost of the offensive<\/p>\n

Pentagon officials told Congress that the first week of operations alone cost about $6b, including roughly $4b\u00a0spent on munitions and advanced missile interceptors.<\/p>\n

That would place the average daily operational cost at around $857m, pushing the 10-day total to approximately $8.57b.<\/p>\n

However, the Pentagon’s figure does not indicate an inclusion of asset losses.<\/p>\n

CSIS estimates it will cost $3.1b\u00a0to replenish the munitions used during the first 100 hours of the campaign on a like-for-like basis, with replenishment costs increasing by about $758m\u00a0per day.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, US naval forces deployed to the region,\u00a0including the USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carriers and their escorting destroyers and littoral combat ships,\u00a0are estimated to cost roughly $15m\u00a0per day to operate.<\/p>\n

Reports that the USS George HW\u00a0Bush carrier strike group could also deploy to the CENTCOM area of operations could significantly increase those costs.<\/p>\n

Based on those benchmarks, Anadolu estimates that sustained operations have racked up around $7.8b\u00a0in munitions and operational costs, using projected flight hours, maintenance expenses and munitions requisition data from the 2025 and 2026 US Department of Defence budget requests.<\/p>\n

When combining operational spending of roughly $7.8b\u00a0with estimated $2.55b\u00a0in asset losses, the total US cost of the first 10 days of the campaign reaches approximately $10.35b\u00a0\u2014\u00a0or about $1.03b per day.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United States military campaign against Iran has racked up an estimated $10.35 billion in costs in just 10 days \u2014\u00a0an average of more than $1b\u00a0per day. The figure represents roughly 1.23% of the entire 2026 US defence budget, according to estimates and data compiled by Anadolu. US forces spent an estimated $779 million in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43147\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}