The first two days of the war in Iran cost the US $5,6 billion as the armed forces rapidly deplete their stockpiles of modern weapons.

The Trump administration is planning to submit a request to Congress for a supplemental defense budget. The House is concerned that the U.S. military is using up its scarce modern weaponry at an excessively rapid rate, according to The Washington Post.

The Pentagon expended $5,6 billion in ammunition during the first two days of the war with Iran, three US officials reported. Capitol Hill is concerned about the speed at which US troops are depleting their limited stockpiles of the most advanced weaponry.

The assessment, delivered to Congress on March 9, raises new questions about the Trump administration's rationale for dismissing lawmakers' concerns that the operation against Iran is undermining the readiness of U.S. forces.

On the subject: Ukrainian drone operators will help fight Iranian shahids in the Middle East.

According to these officials, the Trump administration is expected to submit a supplemental defense budget request (potentially tens of billions of dollars) to Congress as early as this week to bolster its campaign. This move is likely to meet resistance from many Democrats, whose attempts to constrain the administration and prevent further military action against Iran have so far failed.

Pentagon press secretary Sean Parnell issued a statement saying the Defense Department "is fully equipped to carry out any mission the president chooses, at any time, in any location, and on any timeline."

It's unclear how long the war will continue. President Donald Trump said last week that the operation could take more than a month, though on March 9, citing Iran's significant military losses, he told CBS News that it was "largely over."

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Kaine told reporters last week that US forces will increasingly use laser-guided bombs as American and Israeli forces advance deeper into Iran after establishing air superiority. These bombs are cheaper than precision-guided missiles and are more widely available.

The $5,6 billion figure shows how costly the initial strikes were, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. They did not specify how much or what types of munitions were used in the first days of the war.

Since the outbreak of hostilities on February 28, the military has fired hundreds of precision-guided munitions, including advanced air defense interceptors and Tomahawk cruise missiles. US Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, stated that it has struck over 5000 targets in Iran using 2000 munitions.

As Mark Cancian, who closely tracks U.S. weapons stockpiles at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said, switching from these long-range munitions to laser-guided bombs would dramatically reduce the cost of each strike—from millions of dollars per launch to less than $100,000 in some cases.

As the military depletes its arsenal, it is redeploying weapons from other parts of the world, including the Indo-Pacific region. Lawmakers have long feared that in the event of a potential conflict between the United States and China, the Pentagon would face a limited supply of modern weapons.

The Pentagon is redeploying elements of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system from South Korea to the Middle East, two officials said on condition of anonymity. One of them noted that these measures are not prompted by a critical weapons shortage in the Middle East, but rather a precaution in case Iran sharply increases the tempo of retaliatory strikes, which have slowed down a week into the conflict.

Two air defense systems, THAAD and Patriot, are considered the most modern in the world.

On the eve of the operation, Kaine warned Trump that a protracted conflict with Iran could deplete the US's stockpile of precision-guided weapons. Furthermore, the arsenal was significantly depleted after several years of supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression, as well as due to the administration's other military actions in at least seven countries. The White House tried to downplay Kaine's assessment.

Analysts said they were surprised by the level of technological sophistication of Iran's retaliatory strikes, particularly the ability to target key elements of American and Israeli air defense systems, even overloading them at times, including radars and command and control infrastructure.

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Russia is supplying Iran with intelligence to improve the accuracy of strikes against American forces, which could offset the damage the Iranian armed forces suffered during the war.

Three American F-15 fighter jets were also shot down in a friendly fire incident involving Kuwait. Cancian estimated the cost of each aircraft at approximately $100 million.

Seven American service members were killed during the war: six in an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait and another after an attack in Saudi Arabia.

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