American campaign against Iran costing more than $1b per day, according to Anadolu analysis
US carrier operations are continuously targeting Iran in the region. PHOTO: CENTCOM/FOX NEWS
The United States military campaign against Iran has racked up an estimated $10.35 billion in costs in just 10 days — an average of more than $1b per day.
The figure represents roughly 1.23% of the entire 2026 US defence budget, according to estimates and data compiled by Anadolu.
US forces spent an estimated $779 million in the first 24 hours alone as the operation began, Anadolu estimates.
As the campaign has expanded, operational spending has climbed into the billions, based on estimated flight hours, maintenance costs and munitions expenditures derived from the US Department of Defence’s 2025 and 2026 budget requests.
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Data from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) shows that the first 100 hours of operations cost about $3.3b. When scaled to 10 days, that estimate rises to nearly $8b.
US asset losses
In addition to operational spending, Iran has also damaged or destroyed an estimated $2.55b worth of US military equipment, according to Anadolu estimates.
The largest single loss appears to be a US AN/FPS-132 early warning radar system at Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, valued at $1.1b, which was struck by an Iranian missile when retaliatory attacks began on February 28. Qatari authorities confirmed that the radar was hit and damaged.
During its initial retaliatory strike, Iran also struck the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Manama, Bahrain, destroying two satellite communications terminals and several large buildings.
Open-source intelligence reports have identified the targeted communication terminals as AN/GSC-52Bs, with an estimated cost of $20 million, factoring in deployment and installation costs.
In addition to the terminals lost in Bahrain, satellite imagery analysed by The New York Times of Camp Arifjan in Kuwait also showed three destroyed radomes, adding roughly $30m in additional damage.
On the second day of strikes, three F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets were lost in a friendly-fire incident involving Kuwaiti air defences. While all six aircrew survived, the aircraft were destroyed, with replacement costs estimated at $282m.
US officials told CBS News on Friday that three MQ-9 Reaper surveillance drones belonging to the US Air Force had been downed earlier in the conflict, at a cost of about $90m. Since then, another MQ-9 Reaper drone was reportedly shot down by IRGC Aerospace forces over Iran’s Hormozgan Province, bringing the total tally to $120m.
Meanwhile, at least two AN/TPY-2 radar components belonging to the THAAD missile defence system appear to have been destroyed in separate strikes in the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, with each system valued at approximately $500m.
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There are also reports that another system has been hit in the UAE, though that claim has not yet been confirmed by satellite imagery or official statements.
Cost of the offensive
Pentagon officials told Congress that the first week of operations alone cost about $6b, including roughly $4b spent on munitions and advanced missile interceptors.
That would place the average daily operational cost at around $857m, pushing the 10-day total to approximately $8.57b.
However, the Pentagon’s figure does not indicate an inclusion of asset losses.
CSIS estimates it will cost $3.1b to replenish the munitions used during the first 100 hours of the campaign on a like-for-like basis, with replenishment costs increasing by about $758m per day.
Meanwhile, US naval forces deployed to the region, including the USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carriers and their escorting destroyers and littoral combat ships, are estimated to cost roughly $15m per day to operate.
Reports that the USS George HW Bush carrier strike group could also deploy to the CENTCOM area of operations could significantly increase those costs.
Based on those benchmarks, Anadolu estimates that sustained operations have racked up around $7.8b in munitions and operational costs, using projected flight hours, maintenance expenses and munitions requisition data from the 2025 and 2026 US Department of Defence budget requests.
When combining operational spending of roughly $7.8b with estimated $2.55b in asset losses, the total US cost of the first 10 days of the campaign reaches approximately $10.35b — or about $1.03b per day.
