THE IRAN
WAR $$$

This counter estimates the cumulative direct cost of U.S. military operations against Iran — Operation Epic Fury — starting at 20:38 UTC, when President Trump gave the order and U.S. warships launched the first Tomahawk missiles. No congressional authorization was sought. No declaration of war was made. The strikes began without a vote.

The costs escalated immediately. An independent analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies put the first 100 hours at $3.7 billion — $891.4 million per day — driven largely by the expenditure of munitions: Tomahawk cruise missiles at $3.6 million each, air defense interceptors at up to $4 million per shot, B-2 stealth bomber sorties that cost hundreds of millions to put in the air. Congressional sources cited by The Atlantic put the figure closer to $1 billion per day from the start. Politico reported that Republican lawmakers receiving private Pentagon briefings were told costs were running as high as $2 billion per day. CSIS, March 5 →

By March 11 — less than two weeks in — Pentagon officials confirmed in a closed-door Senate briefing that the first six days alone had cost more than $11.3 billion, an average of $1.88 billion per day driven by the intense opening strikes, and not counting ship operations or deployed personnel. Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), the top Democrat on the Senate defense appropriations subcommittee, called that figure "roughly accurate" but said the true total is "significantly above that," estimating the ongoing daily rate at well over $1.5 billion — the floor this counter uses. NBC News, March 12 →

On March 13, Trump announced U.S. forces had struck Kharg Island — Iran's main oil export terminal, handling roughly 90% of the country's crude exports — destroying all military targets on the island. In a Truth Social post, Trump warned he would "immediately reconsider" sparing the island's oil infrastructure if Iran interferes with passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Oil prices, already near $120 per barrel — up from $70 before the war — could spike dramatically higher if that threat is carried out, triggering Iranian retaliation and a new phase of spending. The $1.5B/day rate used by this counter may already be an undercount.

Money is not the only cost. As of March 13, at least 13 U.S. service members have been killed and approximately 140 wounded (8 severely). Seven died in combat: six Army Reserve soldiers from the 103rd Sustainment Command in Des Moines, Iowa — Maj. Jeffrey O'Brien, Capt. Cody Khork, CWO3 Robert Marzan, Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, and Sgt. Declan Coady (age 20) — killed in an Iranian drone strike at the Port of Shuaiba, Kuwait on March 1; and Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, 26, of Glendale, Kentucky, who died March 8 from wounds sustained at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia. Six more died on March 12 when a KC-135 Stratotanker — call sign ZEUS 95 — went down in western Iraq during a combat mission in an apparent midair collision with a second KC-135. They were the first Air Force fatalities of the war: Maj. John A. Klinner, 33, of Auburn, Alabama (survived by his wife and three children — 7-month-old twins and a 2-year-old son); Capt. Ariana G. Savino, 31, of Covington, Washington; Tech. Sgt. Ashley B. Pruitt, 34, of Bardstown, Kentucky; Capt. Seth R. Koval, 38, of Mooresville, Indiana; Capt. Curtis J. Angst, 30, of Wilmington, Ohio; and Tech. Sgt. Tyler H. Simmons, 28, of Columbus, Ohio. Three were assigned to the 6th Air Refueling Wing at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida; three to the 121st Air Refueling Wing at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base, Ohio. The cause remains under investigation. Air & Space Forces Magazine / Pentagon, March 14 →

The human toll is set to grow. On March 13, the Pentagon ordered roughly 2,500 Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit — along with the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli — to deploy to the Middle East. But the deployment may be a prelude to something far larger. Reporting by Zeteo on March 7, citing four sources in or close to the Trump administration, found that advisers have been telling Trump that airstrikes alone cannot achieve his stated goal of "unconditional surrender" — and that ground troops would be required. Trump has been receptive, and internal momentum at the top levels of government is "rapidly headed in that direction." Officials told the president a limited special forces deployment would not be enough: "He likes the idea of special forces. But they're telling him he has to go bigger to end this once and for all." None of the sources said anything about seeking congressional authorization before sending in troops. Zeteo, March 7 → KPBS / AP, March 13 →

On March 18, the Pentagon asked the White House to send a supplemental funding request of more than $200 billion to Congress — roughly one-fifth of the $1 trillion the OBBBA cut from Medicaid over ten years, requested in a single ask, for a single war. Congress was never asked whether this war should start. It is now being asked to pay for it. Legal scholars call this "funding as ratification": by appropriating the money, Congress would become retroactively complicit in a war it never authorized. But the mechanism for paying for it removes any remaining ambiguity about the trade-offs involved: House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington has explicitly named cuts to ACA cost-sharing subsidies and other domestic programs as the proposed offsets. Meanwhile, Freedom Caucus member Rep. Keith Self called the war request "a reason to get to reconciliation 2" — using the war as a vehicle to force another round of domestic cuts. Sen. Dick Durbin put it plainly: Republicans voted against requiring congressional approval for this war after cutting "$1 trillion from Medicaid," while backing "nearly $2 billion a day" in war spending. This is not a trade-off the government accidentally made. It is their stated policy. Axios, March 19, 2026 → Washington Post, March 18 →