How much is the war with Iran costing the US?
The Defense Department won't say how much Operation Epic Fury might cost, but one bipartisan think tank is putting the price tag at some $891 million a day for the first four days of the attack -- or $3.7 billion total.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies says the eye-popping numbers are due largely to the intensity of the initial attacks that began Saturday, during which the U.S. pounded Iran with some 2,000 precision munitions.
"Some of these costs are already budgeted, but most ($3.5 billion) are not," according to the CSIS analysis.
Among the 2,000 precision munitions fired includes an unknown number of Tomahawk cruise missiles, which cost more than $2 million apiece.
Also included in the cost would likely be the loss of three F-15 fighter jets due to friendly fire incident in Kuwait. Each jet costs about $31 million.
Then there's the cost of the rapid buildup of troops itself. In a matter of weeks, President Donald Trump deployed some 50,000 troops, 200 fighter jets and more than a dozen Navy ships to the region, including two aircraft carriers.
"The shift of U.S. forces to less expensive munitions and the steep decline of Iranian drone and missile launches will drive costs down. However, future costs will depend mostly on the intensity of operations and the effectiveness of Iranian retaliation," CSIS wrote.
Asked about the cost of the war during an appearance before a House committee on Thursday, Elbridge Colby, under secretary of defense for policy at the Pentagon, said he was unable to provide an answer.
"I'll get back to you ma'am," he said in response to a question from Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif. "I can't give you an answer at this point."
Democrats are insisting the number could be even higher at $1 billion a day -- an unprecedented number critics are quietly knocking down as unrealistic.
Operations during the Iraq war at its height reached around only $300 million a day, according to budget estimates.
It is not clear though how much the early days of the initial invasion cost, with official estimates looking at war costs over an extended period of time.
Still, the cost of Operation Epic Fury is likely to be extraordinary. U.S. Central Command is calling the operation the "largest regional concentration of US military firepower in a generation."
