Source: Fortune
Summary
The ongoing US military campaign against Iran, Operation Epic Fury, is estimated to cost American taxpayers between $40 billion and $210 billion, according to Kent Smetters, director of the Penn Wharton Budget Model. The cost includes direct military expenditures, replacement of equipment and supplies, and broader economic impacts such as disruptions to trade and energy markets. The conflict, which began on February 28, has already resulted in the death of at least four American troops, and its duration and financial stakes are uncertain. The Pentagon’s pre-strike military buildup cost taxpayers an estimated $630 million, and the war’s price tag is drawing scrutiny on Capitol Hill.
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The numbers tell one story.
Kent Smetters’ estimates for the cost of Operation Epic Fury range from $40 billion to $210 billion, with a likely cost of $65 billion for direct military operations. The conflict’s duration and financial stakes are uncertain, and the Pentagon’s pre-strike military buildup cost taxpayers an estimated $630 million. The war’s price tag is already drawing scrutiny on Capitol Hill, with a Reuters/Ipsos poll finding that only one in four Americans support the US strikes on Iran. The economic estimates from Penn Wharton are likely to fuel an intensifying political debate over who ultimately bears the cost of the conflict.
The war’s cost is being framed as a necessary response to Iran’s “imminent nuclear threat,” but Smetters notes that cost-of-war calculations often ignore the counterfactual – the potential costs of not taking action.
Author: Evan Null
