The Congressional Budget Office puts the cost of the United States’ war with Iran at $38 billion to 1 August, rising about $3 billion a month (Express Tribune).
What is driving it
Mostly the rapid drawdown of munitions, which the CBO says would take five years to replenish. Also energy price increases from attacks on infrastructure near the Strait of Hormuz, and damage to US bases and aircraft.
The office expects inflation to rise about 0.5 percent in early 2027.
What the figure excludes
Recent strikes on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, attacks on US military installations, and the borrowing cost of financing the war — which the CBO says could add tens of billions more.
So $38bn is a floor, calculated to a date six weeks ago.
The dispute
The White House said the military has “more than enough munitions, ammo, and stockpiles to serve all of the Commander-in-Chief’s strategic goals”. A Pentagon spokesman: “We have everything required to strike at the time and place of the president’s choosing.”
Representative Brendan Boyle: “This nonpartisan CBO report makes clear that the war has also cost American taxpayers tens of billions.”
The two claims are not actually in conflict
The administration is asserting present sufficiency. The CBO is describing replacement time. A force can have enough munitions today and still face a five-year gap to restock — and it is the second that shapes how long a war can be sustained.
Why it reaches Pakistan
Through the oil price. The CBO names energy costs from Hormuz-area attacks as a driver of American inflation; the same mechanism has added Rs38.47 to a litre of petrol here since 7 September, in an economy with far less capacity to absorb it.
What is not established
The CBO has not published a projected end date or total. No breakdown by munition type has been reported, and the $3 billion monthly figure assumes the current tempo continues.
[Image: Reuters via The Express Tribune]
