$5.6 billion in American ammunition in two days of the Iran war

The Washington Post reported, citing three American officials, that the US War Department spent ammunition worth approximately $5.6 billion during the first two days of the military operation against Iran.

According to officials, Congress was informed of this estimate on Monday, raising new questions among some lawmakers about the speed with which US forces are consuming their stock of advanced munitions.

Some members of Congress fear that the military campaign in Iran will lead to a rapid depletion of precision munitions stocks, which may affect the readiness of the US army, according to the newspaper.

In this context, officials said that the Trump administration is expected to send to Congress an additional defense funding request as soon as this week, which could amount to tens of billions of dollars to support the continuation of military operations.

The request is likely to face opposition from a number of Democrats, especially after the failure of their previous attempts to impose restrictions on the administration to prevent the expansion of military operations in Iran.

In response to questions about the status of weapons stocks, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said that the War Department has everything it needs to carry out any mission decided by the president at any time.

In a related context, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Kaine said last week that the campaign has begun to gradually shift away from heavy reliance on high-precision munitions, towards greater use of laser-guided bombs available in larger quantities, after American and Israeli forces strengthened their air superiority over Iran.

As consumption increased, officials indicated that the US military also began redistributing defense assets from other regions, including the Indo-Pacific region.

According to sources, parts of the THAAD system are being transferred from South Korea to the Middle East, and stocks of Patriot interceptor missiles are being withdrawn in the Indo-Pacific and other regions to strengthen defense against Iranian attacks by drones and ballistic missiles.

One of the officials said that these steps come as a precautionary measure in anticipation of the possibility of an escalation in Iranian response, despite the decline in the frequency of attacks more than a week after the outbreak of fighting.