Cost to US for war on Iran is $3.7bn in first 100 hours, says think tank

The sky over Tehran is heavy with the roar of stealth bombers, but back in Washington, a different kind of storm is brewing. As the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran enters its second week, the sheer financial weight of the operation is starting to surface—and the numbers are staggering. In just the first 100 hours of what is being called Operation Epic Fury, the United States has already burned through an estimated $3.7 billion.

To put that into perspective, that is nearly $900 million every single day.

According to a sobering analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), this "military burn rate" is driven by an unprecedented expenditure of high-tech munitions. Within those first four days, U.S. forces unleashed more than 2,000 munitions. The bill just to replenish those stocks—replacing Tomahawk missiles, Patriot interceptors, and THAAD systems on a like-for-like basis—is expected to hit $3.1 billion.

But there is a catch that has lawmakers in D.C. sweating: most of this money wasn’t in the budget.

Researchers Mark Cancian and Chris Park point out that $3.5 billion of that initial cost was unbudgeted. This means the Pentagon will soon have to head to Congress with its hat in hand, requesting a massive supplemental appropriation. For an administration that campaigned on an "America First" platform and promised to avoid "foreign wars," this request is likely to become a lightning rod for political opposition. With national debt interest rising and inflation weighing on domestic life, a $50 billion funding request to keep the missiles flying might be a shock the public isn't ready for.

Beyond the dollar signs and the political chess matches, the human toll remains the most devastating metric. The Iranian Red Crescent reports that over 1,332 people have been killed in Iran since the bombardment began last Saturday. Heartbreakingly, UNICEF estimates that at least 181 of those victims are children. The violence has spilled across borders as well, with the death toll in Lebanon rising past 123 as new waves of strikes pound the region.

As Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warns of a "dramatic surge" in air operations with even more fighter squadrons and "bomber pulses," the question remains: how long can this tempo be sustained—both financially and humanely? The first 100 hours have set a terrifyingly expensive precedent for a war that shows no signs of slowing down.

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