The ongoing US military campaign against Iran, now in its early days, has raised fresh questions about the financial burden it places on American taxpayers.
Initial phase of Operation Epic Fury
The confrontation escalated on Saturday with joint US-Israeli air strikes deep inside Iran, marking open hostilities. President Donald Trump described the action as a major combat operation aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
In a Truth Social video on February 28, Trump said the mission, named Operation Epic Fury by the Pentagon, would destroy Iran’s missiles and missile industry completely.
The US military reported striking more than 1,250 targets since operations began. Central Command confirmed the destruction of 11 Iranian ships. Strikes involved air power, sea-launched cruise missiles, attacks on nuclear-related sites, and actions against senior defence figures.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the initial wave when his Tehran compound was hit. As of Monday, Iran’s Red Crescent reported 555 deaths across 130 locations.
Trump indicated the campaign could last four to five weeks or longer if needed.
US spending in the region since 2023
Since October 7, 2023, the US has provided Israel with about $21.7 billion in military aid, according to Brown University’s 2025 Costs of War report.
Additional US operations supporting Israel in Yemen, Iran, and the wider Middle East have cost between $9.65 billion and $12.07 billion.
This brings total US spending linked to the conflict to between $31.35 billion and $33.77 billion so far, with costs continuing to rise.
Weapons systems and early cost estimates
Operation Epic Fury has drawn on more than 20 weapons systems across air, sea, land, and missile defence forces.
Key assets include B-1 and B-2 bombers, F-35 and F-22 stealth fighters, F-15 and F-16 jets, EA-18G Growlers for electronic warfare, MQ-9 Reaper drones, HIMARS rocket systems, Tomahawk cruise missiles, Patriot and THAAD interceptors.
Reports from Anadolu news agency estimate the US spent roughly $779 million in the first 24 hours of the operation.
The pre-strike build-up, including repositioning aircraft, deploying over a dozen naval vessels, and mobilising regional forces, added an estimated $630 million.
Operating a carrier strike group, such as the USS Gerald R Ford, costs about $6.5 million per day.
Equipment losses have also occurred, including three US fighter jets downed in a friendly-fire incident over Kuwait on March 1.
Experts caution that while the financial cost is manageable within the US defence budget, the bigger challenge lies in sustaining stocks of critical munitions.
Former CENTCOM operations director Kevin Donegan noted the focus is on quickly degrading Iran’s offensive capabilities.
Christopher Preble from the Stimson Center said predicting total costs remains difficult due to many variables.
He highlighted concerns over interceptor inventories, such as Patriot missiles and SM-6s, which cannot be produced rapidly and are needed in other regions like Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific.
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