US Spends $5.6 Billion on Munitions in First 48 Hours of Iran Conflict

The US reportedly used weapons worth about $5.6 billion (around ₹51,400 crore) in just the first 48 hours of its military operations against Iran, highlighting the massive financial and logistical scale of the conflict, The Washington Post stated in a report. According to the report, the figure represents the cost of munitions alone used during the opening phase of the US strikes. It does not include the broader expenses of deploying aircraft carriers, fighter jets, troops, or other military assets in the region. The early days of the campaign saw intense air and missile strikes by US forces targeting multiple Iranian military sites and infrastructure. Reports indicate that more than 2,000 munitions were used and thousands of strikes were carried out as part of the initial wave of operations. Several high-end weapons systems contributed to the staggering cost. These included Tomahawk cruise missiles, advanced air-defence interceptors such as Patriot and THAAD systems, and precision-guided bombs deployed by US aircraft. Such sophisticated weapons are extremely expensive, with individual missiles costing millions of dollars each. Despite the high expenditure, the Pentagon has reportedly maintained that it still possesses enough munitions to continue operations if required. However, the scale of the conflict is expected to prompt the US administration to seek additional defence funding from Congress to replenish inventories and support ongoing military operations, according to the Daily Herald. It’s unclear how long the war in Iran could last. US President Donald Trump last week said the operation could take more than a month, He recently told CBS News, however, that it is “very complete, pretty much”. US officials told The Wall Street Journal that the US commander-in-chief hoped that the February 28 attack on the Iranian leadership, including the killing of the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would trigger either a collapse of the Iranian regime or the repeat of the Venezuela scenario, in which more pragmatic officials chose to cooperate with Washington. However, neither of these scenarios has materialised. Instead, Tehran has appointed Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, as his successor, vowing vengeance. Trump has also faced significant pushback from politicians, military veterans and even sections of the American media for the Iranian operation.