As the cost of the Iran War to taxpayers and national security continues to grow, the urgency of closing the tab on the seven-and-a-half-month conflict grows with it.
We’ve talked a lot about the direct costs of this war, from the munitions expended, to the military bases and equipment that Iran has damaged or destroyed, to the operational costs of deploying additional forces to the region and extending their stay.
According to the Pentagon’s latest estimate, the Iran War cost taxpayers an estimated $45.1 billion through September 3, which tracks roughly with the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) estimate of $38.1 billion through August 1. However, CBO also estimated that the costs of the war moving forward would come in at $2 billion to $3 billion per month, so a $7 billion jump in one month suggests that CBO’s total estimate was either low, or that the current costs of operations are much higher than it anticipated. Moreover, both estimates exclude the costs of damage to military installations across the region, which would likely amount to billions more dollars even if only some of those installations are rebuilt.
We’ve also talked about the indirect taxpayer costs. Debt-financed war spending means increased interest payments on the national debt. The rise in inflation tied to the war, which CBO pegged at 0.5 percent above its pre-war projection, is raising prices across the board. And the costs of benefits for veterans of the Iran War will accumulate for decades.
There are also the costs to consumers due to increased fuel and grocery costs and rising interest rates. According to one recent analysis, the average American household has already paid $1,100 in additional energy costs and $540 in higher interest rates due to the war, on top of $360 per household in direct war costs—in other words $2,000 per household in total.
The national security costs have been piling up too, and may bring further taxpayer and consumer costs. The Pentagon recently updated the official count of U.S. servicemember deaths to 21. U.S. bombers were recently withdrawn from a U.S. air base in the UK amid threats of an Iranian attack. President Trump’s frantic efforts to lower the cost of fuel in the lead up to the midterms now include relieving sanctions on Russian diesel, a move that will barely register in global energy markets, but has security implications for Ukraine and other European allies.
The war has also reopened a conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthis, who control a large portion of the country and recently seized control of a key port along the Red Sea, imperiling another waterway that’s used to transport oil. The Houthis have also been striking Saudi airports and oil facilities, further straining energy markets and driving up costs. U.S. involvement in this conflict, while currently limited to defensive support for Saudi Arabia, is now another indirect cost of the Iran War that’s hitting U.S. taxpayers, and may evolve into a direct role in offensive operations if Saudi Arabia presses for greater U.S. involvement. As one barometer of potential costs, less than two months of U.S. attacks against Yemen’s Houthis in 2025 cost taxpayers over $1 billion, with little to show for it.
Then, of course there’s the munitions issue. U.S. munitions stockpiles have been significantly depleted during the Iran War, which undermines the military’s ability to deter wars in other theaters. This problem will take many years to address regardless of our investment in munitions accounts this year, which means the most important step the U.S. can take in the short term is to stop the bleeding of our remaining stockpiles.
Lastly, the national debt has become a national security threat. The country recently surpassed $40 trillion in debt and paid $1.15 trillion to service that debt in fiscal year 2026. Reining in runaway Pentagon spending is an obvious place to start tackling this crisis.
Congress has so far failed to put the brakes on the unauthorized war with Iran. While both chambers have passed war powers resolutions directing an end to the conflict, the measures that passed were non-binding, and binding war powers resolutions are subject to presidential veto. Some lawmakers believe that the best hope may be negotiating for provisions in the Pentagon’s policy and spending bills that would prohibit the use of funds for the war. While those provisions would be welcome, they could also lead to a presidential veto, and even if they didn’t, the Trump Administration’s penchant for misinterpreting or simply ignoring the law raises questions about whether such provisions would be sufficient to end the war.
That leaves Congress with only one reliable path to reining in the war and mitigating the damage to taxpayers and national security: tightening the purse strings.
Lawmakers truly concerned with the affordability crisis, the depletion of munitions, the spiraling national debt, and Congress’ waning ability to exercise its constitutional authority over war can oppose the Pentagon’s annual policy bill, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), if the bill’s topline continues to authorize the Pentagon’s base request of $1.15 trillion. Lawmakers can also oppose yet another budget reconciliation bill, which can pass with a simple majority in the Senate and would likely include another Pentagon slush fund with which the administration could continue waging unauthorized wars without meaningful spending oversight. Lastly, congressional leaders and appropriators can hold the line for a fiscally responsible spending agreement that dramatically cuts the Pentagon’s untenable request and finally puts the brakes on this costly, unauthorized war.
