The United States military is facing mounting pressure to replenish weapons stocks after the war with Iran depleted large quantities of munitions and exposed weaknesses in the country’s capacity to rapidly replace them.
The warning came as the financial cost of the conflict climbed to $33.4 billion, with the bulk of the expenditure attributed to weapons used during the fighting, according to a report by INDEPENDENT.
A US Defense Department inspector general’s report submitted to Congress disclosed that four F-15 fighter jets and up to 30 MQ-9 Reaper drones had been destroyed during the conflict. One F-35 fighter and seven KC-135 tanker aircraft were also damaged.
The report said about $22.3 billion of the total war expenditure came from munitions consumed during the operation, underscoring the scale of the weapons used by the US military between February 28 and June 30.
Beyond aircraft losses and weapons consumption, Iranian attacks reportedly damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings and other structures at US military installations across Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan.
The Pentagon assessment warned that the conflict had produced strategic shortages in military inventories while exposing bottlenecks in the American defence industry’s ability to replenish munitions at the required pace.
The development comes as President Donald Trump indicated that he remains open to negotiations aimed at ending the war with Iran, although he maintained that the ultimate decision on whether to pursue an agreement rests with him.
The combination of mounting costs, depleted weapons stocks and damage to US military infrastructure has added a new dimension to the conflict, placing the sustainability of continued operations alongside the battlefield itself.
