{"id":2117,"date":"2026-06-24T12:11:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T12:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=2117"},"modified":"2026-06-24T12:11:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T12:11:51","slug":"the-pentagon-said-iran-war-costs-29-billionbut-the-real-cost-is-closer-to-200-billion-and-counting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=2117","title":{"rendered":"The Pentagon said Iran War costs $29 billion,but the real cost is closer to $200 billion\u2014and counting"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On Monday, the Department of Defense told senators it needed an additional $80 billion to cover the cost of U.S. involvement in the conflict, just weeks after warning that the military could potentially run out of money should Congress not pass a new spending bill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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After nearly four months of war, the conflict has reshaped key parts of the U.S. and global economies for years, if not decades to come. Americans have felt the cost acutely at the gas pump and in the supermarket aisles. Now, nearly two-thirds of Americans disapprove of President Donald Trump\u2019s handling of the war, even if he doesn\u2019t seem to mind the growing consensus against the conflict.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cI don\u2019t think about Americans\u2019 financial situation,\u201d Trump said in May. \u201cI don\u2019t think about anybody. I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n

The war has cost U.S. taxpayers and consumers at least $132 billion so far, according to Moody\u2019s Analytics, but the cost to Americans is far from over and could last generations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the clearest and most immediate costs of the war is the billions that have been spent on direct military action. On May 12, Acting Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst III told the House Armed Services Committee that the war had cost $29 billion. Despite the six weeks that have passed, the Pentagon referred Fortune <\/em>back to Hurst\u2019s testimony when asked for an updated estimate this week.<\/p>\n

Experts, however, say that number pales in comparison to the true cost of the conflict. Take for example the first 48 hours of the war, in which the U.S. spent $1 billion\u2014and initially continued spending continued at a rate of $1 billion a day. Linda Bilmes, a Harvard Kennedy School senior public policy lecturer and a federal budget expert, said upfront spending is more likely to total the $200 billion amount in additional funds the Pentagon requested in March. That amount covers the costs of deploying more than 50,000 troops, repairs and maintenance, and munitions.<\/p>\n

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Bilmes says the Defense Department is low-balling their estimates by calculating the cost of current munitions, not how much it will cost to replace them. For example, the Tomahawk missiles used in Iran cost between $1 million and $2 million to make, but now it costs between $3 million to $6 million to replace, based on signed contracts with defense contractors reviewed by Bilmes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cReplacement cost of the inventory is two to three times higher than the inventory costs they\u2019re using,\u201d she told Fortune<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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That number is sure to drive up costs significantly, especially given that within the first seven weeks of the war, the Pentagon used at least 45% of its stockpile of Precision Strike Missiles; 50% of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors, and almost half of its Patriot ballistic interceptor missiles, according to an analysis from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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In the medium-term, the government will have to repair damage to U.S. military installations across the Middle East in Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, including radar and housing units, according to Bilmes. That includes 228 structures that have been severely damaged, which, according to her estimates, can cost $200 to $300 billion to repair over the next three to five years. On top of that, the U.S. will likely provide aid to allies\u2014especially the UAE, which coordinated strikes on Iran with the U.S. and Israel\u2014to rebuild damaged buildings as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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All in all\u2014while also accounting for military benefits and increased government spending\u2014the total cost of the world will topple $1 trillion, Bilmes predicted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The prediction comes after the Trump administration has asked Congress for a 42% increase on the defense budget for the next fiscal year, bringing military spending to $1.5 trillion\u2014something Bilmes believes is unlikely to happen.<\/p>\n

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\u201cCongress is not going to do that, but even if you imagine that Congress eventually approves $50 or $100 billion a year above and beyond what it would have approved in the absence of this war, over 10 years, that\u2019s already 500 billion to a trillion dollars,\u201d she said. \u201cThese wars have exposed a lot of issues in terms of the various shortages of munitions and all the other things we have seen, and the fact that it\u2019s very difficult when there\u2019s a live war going, it\u2019s harder for Congress to say no to certain kinds of increases.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not only is there a cost to the American taxpayer on the federal level, there\u2019s also a cost to Americans at the pump and grocery aisle. The war choked off oil supply to the entire world, significantly raising prices on oil products while cutting off two billion barrels of oil from the world\u2019s supply, according to data analytics firm Kpler.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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As of June 23, Americans have paid an extra $61.7 billion for gasoline and diesel since Feb. 28, according to Brown University\u2019s tracker. That\u2019s $471.20 in added expenses per household. High gas prices haven\u2019t been felt evenly across the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

States such as Wyoming, Utah, and Alaska have experienced increases of more than $1.30 per gallon, while people in states like Florida, Texas, and Indiana are paying less than $0.80 more per gallon.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome places like Texas and Alabama were really feeling the burden more in part, because those are big states where people drive a lot, and they also tend to drive heavier vehicles or higher-consuming vehicles, like pickup trucks, so the burden for an average household was a lot higher in those places,\u201d said Jeff Colgan, the Brown political science professor behind the tracker, told Fortune<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While gasoline prices are slowly coming down from their $4.56 peak average price since the war began, experts and the U.S. Secretary of Energy don\u2019t expect prices to go back down below $3 until next year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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But compared to the rest of the world, Americans have fared better when it comes to high energy costs. Countries such as the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan have implemented four-day work weeks to save on energy usage, and Australia made public transport free to encourage people not to drive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The most unpredictable impact of the war will be its overall effect on global economic growth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Justin Wolfers, a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan, estimated in May that stocks are 5% lower than they would be otherwise, a loss worth $3 trillion.\u00a0 The Institute for Economics and Peace that the war has reduced global GDP by about 0.6%, impacting fragile economies the most.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite recent positive job reports, Federal Reserve economists Dario Caldara and Matteo Iacoviello predicted that a million fewer Americans will be working in a year due to higher economic risks. Similarly, European construction, transportation, metals, and chemicals could lose up to 1.3 million jobs due to high energy prices, the European Commission\u2019s labor chief estimated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Future Americans could be paying for this war for generations. Less than a month into the war, the national debt crossed $39 trillion. Military spending, including the $80 billion request this week, will be paid for through borrowing, raising the national debt even higher. In the long run, high national debt will likely lead to higher borrowing costs, wage stagnation, and more expensive goods and services, according to the Government Accountability Office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Worker engagement just hit a decade low \u2014 and new data from 88 million employees shows why managers are the problem<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over time, the conflict will likely cost more than $1 trillion, according to one Harvard economist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[103],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iran"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Pentagon said Iran War costs $29 billion,but the real cost is closer to $200 billion\u2014and counting - Cross Country Moving Team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=2117\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Pentagon said Iran War costs $29 billion,but the real cost is closer to $200 billion\u2014and counting - 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