It hasn’t even been three weeks since the Iran war started, and it’s already costing the country more than a billion a day. The first 100 hours of the conflict alone consumed $3.7 billion. On top of this, the Pentagon’s pre-strike military buildup (a repositioning of more than a dozen naval vessels and over 100 aircrafts) cost an estimated $630 million before a single bomb fell. Now, two congressional officials have reportedly said that a funding request of up to $200 billion has been informally raised by the Trump administration, according to The Washington Post.
While the Trump Administration has not yet formally requested the funding from Congress, at the current rate of spending on the war, if approved, the $200 billion in funding could potentially fund the war for another 100 to 200 days.
According to estimates from the bipartisan think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, the war in Iran cost $16.5 billion within its first 12 days. That’s an average of $1.38 billion per day. At that rate, $200 billion could fund the war for nearly 145 more days, or through mid-August. In the background of all this, of course, rests the national debt, which reached a record high of $39 trillion this week.
While President Donald Trump has said the war could end “soon,” telling Axios last week there was “practically nothing left,” the U.S. has continued to launch coordinated strikes with Israel. The war has sent energy and fertilizer prices soaring as the Strait of Hormuz, the critical Middle Eastern shipping chokepoint, remains under a severe selective shutdown as the military conflict persists.
However, how far that funding lasts the country would depend on how the military carries out the war. The Guardian reported in the beginning of the month the U.S. spent about $2 billion per day in munitions at the beginning of the conflict. However, spending then fell to about $1 billion per day.
In a press briefing Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon’s reported $200 billion budget request for the Iran war “could move.”
“It takes money to kill bad guys,” Hegseth said at the press briefing when asked to confirm the figure.
Hegseth noted the funding would likely be used to ensure the military had more than enough munitions.
“We’re going back to Congress and folks there to ensure we’re properly funded for what’s been done,” he said, “for what we may have to do in the future, ensure that our ammunition is, everything is refilled and not just refilled but above and beyond.”
