US-Iran war has caused supply-chain bottlenecks in Pentagon, report finds
The US-Iran conflict has caused a munitions shortfall and supply-chain bottlenecks at the Pentagon, the Defense Department’s Inspector General said on Monday in its first report on the war with Iran, NBC News reported.
The report says the war with Iran has cost the US about $33.4 billion, including $22.3 billion in expended munitions, $3.7 billion for equipment losses, and $7.4 billion in other expenditures, according to NBC.
However, the calculations don’t account for repairing damaged US facilities in the region, replacing aircraft, and replenishing critical weaponry, it added.
The Pentagon is “working to streamline procurement processes and production lead times, and to stockpile critical materials, components, and selected munitions to respond rapidly to a contingency,” NBC cited the report as saying, with the Trump administration working to replenish weaponry.
Trump, Hegseth, claim otherwise
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has denied the reports, according to NBC.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump claimed in a Truth Social post on Monday that the US is “producing more Exquisite and Elite Weapons than at any time in our History.
“They are being delivered on a daily basis to our Forces in the Middle East and beyond,” he said in the post.
In another post from two weeks ago, Trump said that the US had “virtually unlimited” amounts of ammunition, according to NBC’s report.
The US Defense Department’s report was congressionally mandated, according to NBC, and is one of the first public accountings from any government agency that details the “cost, scope, and scale” of the conflict with Iran to the US Military, the State Department, and other agencies.
The report covers the start of the war on February 28 through June 30.
The findings come amid other reports of low morale among US troops in the Middle East, a depletion of key munitions, and extensive damage to US military and intelligence assets, said NBC.
The report is also one of the first government confirmations that Iran targeted the US Navy’s logistics hub in Bahrain, one of its main hubs in the region, with drones and ballistic missiles, said NBC.
Damage to military equipment, aircraft, and other materiel is also delineated in the report. The findings say that at least 30 large US drones were destroyed during the war.
Trump said over the weekend that the war might not end until after November’s midterm elections, adding yet another few months to a war that the US president had initially estimated would last only weeks.
Over 20,000 US military, diplomatic personnel displaced
According to NBC, the report said that the war had displaced over 20,000 US military and diplomatic personnel.
Additionally, US forces flew up to 5,000 flights from bases in Europe, despite Trump’s complaints that European allies have failed to support the US during the war, said NBC’s report.
Damages to military aircraft include four F-15E jet fighters, an F-35A Joint Strike Fighter, an A-10 Warthog, 12 KC-135 refuelers, and nine other aircraft, NBC cited the report as saying.
The State Department also sustained more than $208 million in damages in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, according to the report, including $184 million in damages to “diplomatic facilities” and $25 million more due to delays in construction projects.
According to an April NBC News report, Iran’s damage to US military bases has been far more extensive than what has been disclosed to the public.