Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
A US government watchdog on Monday released its first report on the impact of the war with Iran, setting out the conflict’s cost in American lives, taxpayer money and physical damage across the Middle East. The report also flagged shortfalls in advanced weapons and bottlenecks in restocking munitions.
Covering April 1 to June 30, the Pentagon inspector general’s report offers the fullest official account so far of damage to US aircraft, drones, military bases and diplomatic outposts in the region. It includes information from watchdogs at the Defence and State departments as well as the US Agency for International Development.
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The report said the US war with Iran “has resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls and revealed industrial base bottlenecks for munitions resupply” in relation to advanced weapons. Experts had previously said military contractors would take about three years to restore advanced missiles and defensive missile interceptors to pre-war levels.
It also said Iranian strikes damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings and other structures at US bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan. Dozens of American aircraft and drones were also damaged or destroyed. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told Congress in late July that the war had cost USD 37.5 billion so far.
The costs to US diplomatic facilities had not been publicly released earlier. According to the report, outposts in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE took the brunt of the physical damage, with an estimated cost of USD 184 million. The State Department said in early June that its overall costs from the conflict stood at USD 113 million, with nearly USD 80 million spent on contingency plans, including evacuation expenses for US personnel and their families, as well as other American citizens and eligible third-country nationals.
The State Department said that in the weeks and months after the US and Israel first struck Iran on February 28, the Trump administration evacuated about 9,000 US citizens from countries in the Middle East and Europe. Through private and commercial flights, as well as land and water travel, the evacuation operation had cost more than USD 11 million as of late June. The report said, “State determined that consular officers would not be able to fully document travel itineraries required to seek reimbursement from evacuees and therefore it would be impracticable to seek reimbursement from them.”
Most of the evacuations were from Israel, followed by Iraq and Jordan. While the US evacuated only 1,200 Americans from the UAE, those trips to Istanbul, Athens and Washington were the costliest, at more than USD 4 million. The State Department also reported more than USD 44 billion in emergency and non-emergency military sales during that period, with most of the sales going to Saudi Arabia. These included military helicopters, munitions and munitions support, as well as advanced precision weapons systems. Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE and Israel also received sales worth billions of dollars, as Iran retaliated against nearly every country in the region that hosted a US military base.
Overall, the report brings together the clearest public account yet of the war’s effect on US weapons stocks, military and diplomatic infrastructure, evacuation efforts and military sales across the Middle East.
With PTI Inputs
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
