{"id":125797,"date":"2026-05-13T11:06:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T06:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=125797"},"modified":"2026-05-13T11:06:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T06:06:25","slug":"iran-war-costs-soar-past-29bn-as-truce-teeters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125797\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran war costs soar past $29bn as truce teeters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON(National Times)- As prospects for peace in the Middle East diminished due to the rigid stances adopted by the US and Iran, the Pentagon on Tuesday\u00a0said\u00a0<\/a>the conflict with Tehran had cost Washington more than $29 billion since the start of hostilities in February, even as consumer inflation in the US hit a three-year high in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jules Hurst, who is performing the duties of com\u00adp\u00adtroller, told US lawmakers on Tuesday that the bill included updated repair and replacement of equipment and operational costs, Reuters<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe joint staff team and the comptroller team are constantly looking at that estimate,\u201d Hurst said. He was speaking alongside Defence Secret\u00adary Pete Hegseth and Cha\u00adi\u00adr\u00adman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On April 29, the Pent\u00adagon said<\/a> the war had cost $25bn at that point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statement came hours before President Donald Trump took off aboard Air Force One bound for China, the first trip<\/a> by a US leader to the rival power in nearly a decade. He is set to hold talks on Thursday and Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping that will focus heavily on trade but also on potential friction points over Taiwan and Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier, the US had reje\u00adcted an Iranian response bound for China, the first trip by a US leader to the rival power in nearly a decade. Trump is set to hold talks on Thursday and Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping that will focus heavily on trade but also on potential friction points over Taiwan and Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier, the US had rejected <\/a>an Iranian response to its peace offer, with President Trump indicating that the ceasefire was on \u201cmassive life support\u201d. CNN<\/em> reported that some aides to President Trump said he was now more seriously considering resuming combat operations in Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Separately, in response to a question about if the US needed China\u2019s help to settle the dispute with Iran, President Trump responded, \u201cNo, I don\u2019t think we need any help with Iran. We\u2019ll win it one way or the other. We\u2019ll win it peacefully or otherwise,\u201d Trump told reporters at the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTheir navy\u2019s gone, their air force is gone, every single element of their war machine is gone,\u201d he said, adding that the blockade of Iranian ports has been \u201c1t00 per cent effective\u201d. \u201cOne way or another, it\u2019s going to work out very well,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also said Iran would not be allowed to build a nuclear weapon. In a separate interaction, he appeared confident that Iran would not build a nuclear weapon. \u201c100pc. They\u2019re going to stop, and they told me, the Iranians told me\u2026 they said that we\u2019re going to get the (nuclear) dust,\u201d the US president said in response to a question by a journalist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He claimed that Iran told him that only the US and China had the expertise to retrieve the nuclear material from the \u201cobliterated\u201d sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last June, Trump said<\/a> Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities were \u201cobliterated\u201d by US and Israeli strikes during a 12-day war, severely limiting Iran\u2019s capacity to enrich uranium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His remarks came as Iranian parliamentary spokesman Ebrahim Rezaei said that the country could enrich uranium <\/a>up to 90pc purity, a level considered weapons-grade, if Iran was attacked again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of Iran\u2019s options in the event of another attack could be 90 per cent enrichment. We will review it in the parliament,\u201d Rezaei, who is a spokesperson for the parliamentary national security and foreign policy commission, posted on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, AFP<\/em> citing Iranian media reported that Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards held military exercises in Tehran on Tuesday to prepare for any confrontation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UAE attacks on Iran<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wall Street Journal<\/em> has reported<\/a> that the United Arab Emirates carried out attacks on Iran early last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an article on Monday, the American newspaper said the UAE\u2019s attacks targeted a refinery located on Iran\u2019s Lavan Island and took place \u201caround the time\u201d US President Donald Trump was \u201cannouncing a ceasefire in the war\u201d after a five-week air strike campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US quietly welcomed the Emirati strikes and any other Gulf states that wanted to join the fight, the paper reported, citing one unnamed source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WSJ<\/em> did not specify a date or time. However, the morning of April 8, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB<\/em> said \u201cmissile and drone attacks on the Emirates and Kuwait have taken place a few hours after the targeting of Lavan island oil facilities in Iran\u201d, AFP<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The refinery was Iran\u2019s 10th biggest refinery as of 2020, handling 60,000 barrels of crude per day, according to EIA figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hormuz deadlock<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, Iran expanded its definition of the Strait of Hormuz into a \u201cvast operational area\u201d far wider than before the Iran war, according to a senior officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strait is no longer viewed as a narrow stretch around a handful of islands but instead has been greatly enlarged in scope and military significance, said Mohammad Akbarzadeh, deputy political director of the IRGC Navy, the state-affiliated Fars news agency reported on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas, however, said the bloc could expand a naval mission it has in the Red Sea to cover the Strait of Hormuz, once the Iran war ended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOperation Aspides already makes a crucial contribution in protecting shipping in the Red Sea but its activities could also be extended to the strait,\u201d Kallas said after a meeting of European Union defence ministers. She said that some countries were already promising to contribute more ships to the mission and that could help if the decision was taken to extend its scope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diplomatic push<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Pakistan continued its diplomatic push to break the impasse. Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi discussed regional developments and Islamabad\u2019s ongoing efforts to mediate an end to the Iran conflict. \u201cBoth sides underscored the importance of continuing a durable ceasefire and ensuring normal passage through the Strait of Hormuz,\u201d the foreign ministry said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both sides underscored the importance of continuing a durable ceasefire and ensuring normal passage through the Strait of Hormuz, the statement added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US-Iran war also came up during a telephone call<\/a> between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev. President Aliyev expressed his deep appreciation for Pakistan\u2019s initiatives to bring about a ceasefire between Iran and the US.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON(National Times)- As prospects for peace in the Middle East diminished due to the rigid stances adopted by the US and Iran, the Pentagon on Tuesday\u00a0said\u00a0the conflict with Tehran had cost Washington more than $29 billion since the start of hostilities in February, even as consumer inflation in the US hit a three-year high in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125798,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nIran war costs soar past $29bn as truce teeters - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125797\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Iran war costs soar past $29bn as truce teeters - 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