Reference News Network, March 15 report: According to the website of the U.S. "Politico" on March 12, a Pentagon official said on the 12th that the United States spent about $1.1 billion in last week's military action against Iran. This is the first public estimate of the cost of this conflict. Democratic lawmakers have insisted that the actual expenditure is much higher.

The report stated that Julie Hurst, the acting inspector general of the Department of Defense, said at a defense conference in Washington that this was just a "rough figure." He said that the department he leads is calculating a more comprehensive number for an additional budget request. The Pentagon plans to submit the application to the White House and Congress in the coming days.

It is said that this money could almost build a new large naval warship, such as the "Ford"-class aircraft carrier.

Lawmakers said they expect the additional funding requirement for the military action against Iran to be at least $50 billion. The White House and the Pentagon have not confirmed this number yet.

The Trump administration has not set a clear end date for the military action in Iran. President Trump said the operation might last four weeks or longer, but Defense Secretary Esper refused to provide a mission timeline.

Analysts outside the government have given different estimates of the cost of this military action. A study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated that the cost of air and sea strikes in the first 100 hours was $3.7 billion. The American Enterprise Institute estimated that the cost of operations so far is between $11.2 billion and $14.5 billion.

Chris Coons, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a Democrat, questioned whether the real number might be higher. He said, "I don't know if this includes all the operating costs of ships and aircraft, fuel costs, and personnel working hours. If they come back and say, 'We spent this amount of money in this operation,' it must include several months of preparation and deployment costs, as well as the costs of restoring ammunition reserves, filling ammunition compartments, and operations." (Translated by Ge Xuele)

Original source: toutiao.com/article/7617391812788896283/

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