NEW YORK, March 20. /TASS/. Several more weeks of Washington’s air operations against Iran will cost more than the George W. Bush administration spent annually during its Iraq campaign, Newsweek writes.

The Pentagon earlier asked the US Congress for additional funding to continue military operations against Iran. According to Newsweek, "the $200 billion request, covering just weeks of air operations plus munitions replenishment, already exceeds what Bush spent annually at the peak of the Iraq surge with 170,000 troops deployed."

The magazine points out that Bush requested $74.7 billion from Congress to cover initial costs of the Iraq campaign, which, adjusted for inflation, would be worth about $133 billion today. "Bush's $74.7 billion was designed to fund roughly five months of ground operations involving 150,000-plus troops," Newsweek notes, adding that the total cost of the Iraq war stood at $2-3 trillion.

"While the United States has avoided the massive bill for feeding and housing thousands of troops as it did in Iraq, it has replaced those costs with the even higher price of high-tech warfare," the media outlet concludes.