DOMINANT ANGLE
Lima questions the United States' ability to support a second high-intensity front, as ammunition stocks dwindle after the war against Iran.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
The cumulative cost of the war has reached $38 billion as of August 1, according to the Pentagon's inspector general and the CBO, as cited by RPP Noticias.
- 02
US material losses include four F-15 fighter jets destroyed, 30 MQ-9 Reaper drones annihilated, and damage to an F-35, twelve KC-135s, and an A-10.
- 03
The Pentagon report concludes there is a shortage of strategic ammunition, contradicting Donald Trump's claim that US stocks were "virtually unlimited".
ANALYSIS
Lima, September 16, 2026. The Peruvian press is closely following the official US assessments of the cost of the war against Iran, seeing an unsettling signal about the limits of US military power. RPP Noticias highlights that the bill, established jointly by the Pentagon's inspector general and the Congressional Budget Office, has reached $38 billion as of August 1, to which are added damages to hundreds of military structures spread across eight countries in the Middle East: Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, and Jordan.
The details of the material losses are noteworthy: four F-15 fighter jets destroyed, thirty MQ-9 Reaper drones annihilated, as well as damage to an F-35, twelve KC-135 tanker planes, and an A-10 attack aircraft. The destruction of the main US naval logistics center in Manama, Bahrain, has forced Washington to transfer its supply operations to Diego Garcia, lengthening transit times by two to two and a half weeks.
El Comercio, for its part, emphasizes the contradiction between President Donald Trump's statements and the conclusions of the inspector general's report. Trump had described in June the information about rationing Patriot missiles as "concerning" and assured that US stocks were "practically unlimited". The report, confirmed on Monday according to the daily, concludes instead to a shortage of strategic ammunition and "bottlenecks" in the reconstitution chains of advanced armament.
This tension raises a question that El Comercio openly poses: what would happen if the US had to face a second high-intensity conflict simultaneously, particularly with China? The daily recalls that the operation, launched on February 28, already cost around $33.4 billion by the end of June, according to the Pentagon, a bill that has continued to climb since.
For the Peruvian press, the issue goes beyond mere budget accounting: it is Washington's ability to sustainably project its power across multiple theaters that is being called into question, as the US defense industry is unable to replenish certain stocks at the rate at which they have been consumed.
