NEW YORK, March 27. /TASS/. Over the first three weeks of the armed conflict with Iran, the US military has likely lost up to $2.9 billion of military equipment, Elaine McCusker, a top Pentagon budget official during the first administration of US President Donald Trump, told The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
She put battle damage and replacement of losses at roughly $1.4 billion to $2.9 billion, with the latter estimate reflecting damage to a Qatari radar stationed in a US air base in the country. According to the WSJ, the bulk of the damage on the ground has been caused by Iranian ballistic missiles and drones.
The United States and Israel launched a military operation against Iran on February 28. Major Iranian cities, including Tehran, were struck. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced a retaliatory operation, targeting sites in Israel. US military bases in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were also hit. On March 11, Khatam al-Anbiya, the central headquarters of the Iranian army, said that Iran would not allow any oil cargo related to the United States and its allies to be transported through the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that accounts for a fifth of global oil exports.