We Pay the Costs of War against Iran

Mar 16, 2026

The Pentagon estimated the first week of war against Iran cost perhaps 11 billion dollars, which is written 11,000,000,000 dollars, most of it spent on munitions like Tomahawk missiles. That means in one week the U.S. government spent as much money just on dropping bombs as it spends for an entire year on Head Start, the national daycare program. The estimate the Pentagon gave Congress did not include regular spending for troop wages, nor fuel to move aircraft carriers and bombers to the Middle East.

One Tomahawk missile costs over three million dollars to make at the sole supplier, Raytheon Corporation, and over two years to deliver. What happens when these big bombs run out and the promised “short” little war keeps going?

For comparison, the Iraq war turned out to be eight years for a country one quarter the size and population of Iran, and might have cost two trillion dollars, not to mention the lives lost among the Iraqi people and among U.S. troops. That cost in the trillions of dollars does not include the cost of veterans’ health care and other benefits guaranteed for the rest of their lives.

We cannot begin to guess at the costs of war in human terms for the soldiers serving, for the families who have already lost loved ones. We are not the unfortunate people currently facing bombs falling on our homes and work places—like people all over the Middle East are. In addition, the war is already the excuse for the rise in gas prices and for prices in many other parts of the economy. Our local mayors and governors will use it as an excuse for why they cannot pay for what they already say they cannot pay for—schools falling apart, people without health benefits or food stamps or unemployment, infrastructure repair.

War is an excuse for every politician and a money-maker for every big industry.