An $87.6 billion supplemental budget request to Congress from the Trump administration includes $67.1 billion for the Pentagon, partly to cover the costs incurred during the Iran war.
It includes:
$1.5 billion for fuel — oil and gas prices surged during the war, which has strained the Pentagon’s budget.
$21 billion for munitions costs — it’s unclear whether this will be used to replace missiles and bombs used against Iran or includes additional purchases.
$17.3 billion for “operational costs” and another $1.7 billion for “readiness,” which are generally large umbrella terms that can mean training or other costs associated with the day-to-day running of the services and related to costs incurred during the war by having so many ships, aircraft and personnel deployed in the Middle East for the conflict.
It can also contain funds to make up for shortfalls within the military to include day-to-day costs and training operations.
Costs associated with repairing base infrastructure destroyed by Iran are not covered by the supplemental budget.
Jay Hurst, the Pentagon comptroller, told lawmakers last month that given that it’s unclear what the long-term Middle East footprint is going to be, there hasn’t yet been a notable plan developed to rebuild bases abroad.
