U.S. war in Iran has cost $25B so far, says Pentagon official

palmotea

Wow, that's pretty cheap compared to all the AI datacenters.

Larrikin

Does anyone have the number that would have been required to pay off all student loans that SCOTUS blocked?

migueldeicaza

Destroying the world is cheap compared to the cost to humanity. Now they need to share the cost that we have burdened the world and ourselves with.

SegfaultSeagull

The cost to operate the Federal government for one day is about $18 billion.

7952

I wonder if they have to assign costs to a project code.

Ritewut

I remember before the election I read a few people on HN say Trump is the most anti-war president they have ever seen and that all the talk about him letting Israel flatten Palestine was fearmongering. Wonder how they feel now.

jjk166

So what were they requesting $200 Billion for?

NoLinkToMe

For context Doge saved 2-3 billion by independent estimates. And cut some of the most important international aid around the world.

throw0101c

Somewhat related: "Here Is What Trump’s Gargantuan $1.5T Defense Budget Has In It": * https://www.twz.com/air/here-is-what-trumps-gargantuan-1-5t-... That's $500B more than last year's budget, and: > > Trump’s budget proposal represents the largest yearly military spending plan in U.S. history, exceeding the previous record of $1.2 trillion during World War II, when adjusted for inflation. And records confirm the DNC’s characterization of the increase being the largest since WWII when inflation is factored in. * https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2026/apr/20/democratic...

electrondood

By the way, this is just the estimate from Pete Hegseth, who has demonstrated himself to be an unreliable narrator. This administration seems to have difficulty with numbers in general, accurate numbers in particular. The real cost is likely twice this, or higher. For example, roughly 50% of our missile stockpiles have been depleted during this "excursion."

ortusdux

Does this number include the cost of stockpile replenishment?

crab_galaxy

It's so funny to me when the dollars stop being abstract for a moment, and I see that the US has regions that beg for quite literally .2% of this amount to fund things like public transit, lead remediation in elementary schools, or homelessness programs. Americans will never see a dime of benefit from this war.

jmyeet

For comparison, Iran's annual military budget is somewhere between $7B and $11B [1], representing 2-2.5% of estimated GDP. The US military budget currently exceeds $1T+ and the ask for 2026 is expected to be $1.5T+, representing almost 5% of GDP. And the US simply cannot end this conflict militarily short of the use of nuclear weapons. I don't mean that as hyperbole. I mean it literally. There are long-term consequences to this war (and the 12 day war last year), namely the depletion of missile defence munitions (eg Patriot, THAAD) that will take years to replenish and this will have ripple effects on allies as well as certain theaters (eg moving THAAD interceptors and radars from South Korea to the Gulf). Over half of the military budget goes towards weapon systems, arguably incredibly overpriced weapon systems. Put another way, it's a scam to move money from government coffers to private weapons manufacturers. The inability to open the Strait of Hormuz militarily was not a surprise to US military leadership or intelligence agencies. It was only a surprise to the president (IMHO) who believed he could do a repeat of a Venezuelan decapitation strike. But Iran unlike Venezuela has suffered under reprehensible and unjustifiable sanctions and military adventurism by the US and its proxies such that the entire Iranian national project is built to resist US aggression, understandably. So that was never going to work. This will have to end diplomatically. It will be worse for the US than it was before this war. Iran has something better than a nuke: it has a nuke they can use (e closing the Strait) and the US forced them to use it and prove that it works. Now it's just a questio9n of how long this impassse goes on for before it ends and so far at least the US would rather let the world burn than split with Israel. Again without hyperbole I say, splitting with Israel effectively means the end of American empire. And the whole world is suffering for it. [1]: https://tradingeconomics.com/iran/military-expenditure

5upplied_demand

For reference, a national 4-week paid parental leave program in the U.S. is estimated to cost under $2 billion annually, while a 12-week program would cost around $7 billion. https://www.nber.org/papers/w33279

lysace

As a European center/moderate kind of person I agree with the US POTUS about this one thing: Iran can not be allowed to build nuclear weapons. I personally don’t buy the line of thought that Iran has no such ambitions; YMMV. Whether this war is effective at stopping that is another question.

0cf8612b2e1e

All of the jokes about reported Soviet production numbers come to mind. This administration has zero credibility in speaking the truth, especially when the outcome is embarrassing. I do not know what to believe, and I hate it.

howmayiannoyyou

Perspective: - $9b per month increase in US oil export revenue as a result offsets probably 40% of the cost. - Several trillion (with a 'T") of realized and yet to be realized FDI commitments from gulf states more than offsets cost by about 3x. - A nuclear Iran carries economic costs I won't detail here to prevent a wall of text. In sum, forces other countries to go nuclear and take other actions to manage risk, and this happens in ways that could severely impact US dollar standing, US debt standing and US military spending. Its an interconnected world. I know its unpopular to be pro-USA and pro-government on HN, but someone has to be the voice of reason - even if its at the bottom of the page. -

crazyfingers

I would merely point out, since the operation started, global terrorism has fallen quite dramatically. Freedom isn’t free; never has been.

ck2

all their numbers are a lie they've spent more than $25 BILLION on just weapons which have to be replaced so it's already twice that number and for more examples we know now the true cost of militarization since 9/11 was $21 TRILLION it's at least half the national debt if not more https://ips-dc.org/report-state-of-insecurity-cost-militariz... Remember, beyond the cost of war, every day the cost of gas is +$1 that's another BILLION dollars being siphoned out of the US economy, EVERY DAY the strait is not opening this year, maybe not even before 2029 at this rate that's TRILLIONS time for a windfall profits tax on the US oil industry

drnick1

A small price to pay to teach the mullahs a good lesson.