Cost of Iran war grows, as Trump throws its end into question 

The cost of America’s military operations against Iran is steadily growing, with continued escalations over the Strait of Hormuz this week as President Trump threatens to blow up negotiations and return to all-out war.

The immediate cost of military actions in the Middle East will run the government tens of billions of dollars, but the broader impact on the economy, repairing regional assets and paying veterans will push the price far higher — a cost the Trump administration argues is worthwhile to keep Iran from pursuing a nuclear bomb. 

To help cover the cost of some stockpile replacements and troop deployments in the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) theater, the White House has requested a $87 billion supplemental, a bill that faces bipartisan scrutiny and likely needs Democratic votes to pass. 

Asked on Friday how much the war had cost American taxpayers so far, the Pentagon pointed to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s congressional testimony in May. 

During an appearance in front of the House Appropriations Committee in early May, the Pentagon’s acting chief financial officer, Jules Hurst III, who testified alongside Hegseth, told lawmakers the cost of the conflict was nearing $29 billion. 

“That’s because of updated repair and replacement of equipment costs and also just general operational costs keep people in theater,” Hurst said when questioned by Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.). 

Then Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought told Congress a month later that the Iran war had cost about $30 billion, but experts who spoke with The Hill placed the topline figure far higher. 

The American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a conservative-leaning think tank, estimated in late June the cost of Operation Epic Fury to be $38.6 billion. The Center for Strategic and International Studies, in its late-June report, put the cost around $40 billion. 

Kent Smetters, the Boettner Chair Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, said the cost of the war over the two-month period between February and April was around $45 billion. He attributed the figure to some deferred costs that appeared to not have been taken into account by the administration. 

“They were doing, for example, replenishment of munitions at the cost at which they were purchased, and not as replacement costs, and replacement costs are quite a bit higher,” Smetters, who has worked in the Congressional Budget Office, said in an interview with The Hill. 

“If you’re trying to replace fast, it’s a really steep marginal cost........

© The Hill