How much could the Iran war cost the US? Here’s what we know 

The long-running confrontation between the US and Iran entered a new phase on Saturday when joint US-Israeli air strikes targeted Iran, marking a moment of open military hostilities.

As US President Donald Trump signals that operations could last four to five weeks, we look at whether Washington can sustain a new war in the Middle East, and what it might ultimately cost.

What is Operation Epic Fury?

On February 28, Trump confirmed in an eight-minute video posted on Truth Social that the US had taken part in what he described as a “major combat operation” inside Iran.

The Pentagon later said the mission was named Operation Epic Fury.

Trump said the objective was to “ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon”.

“We’re going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally obliterated,” he added.

The US military said that it had struck more than 1,250 targets in Iran since operations started on Saturday. In a separate statement, the US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said it had struck and destroyed 11 Iranian ships.

The operation reportedly involved air strikes, sea-launched cruise missiles and coordinated attacks on nuclear-related facilities, as well as on senior figures linked to Iran’s defence establishment.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had led the country since 1989, was killed when his Tehran compound was flattened during the first wave of strikes.

On Monday, Trump promised to pursue the war for as long as necessary, suggesting it could extend over several weeks. As of Monday, the Iranian Red Crescent said that 555 people had been killed across 130 locations in Iran.

How much has the US already spent in Israel and the Middle East since 2023?

According to Brown University’s 2025 Costs of War report, since October 7, 2023, the US has provided Israel with some $21.7bn in military aid.

In addition to that, the American taxpayer has funded US operations in support of Israel in Yemen, Iran and the wider Middle East at a cost of $9.65bn to $12.07bn.

That brings total US spending connected to the conflict to between $31.35bn and $33.77bn, and counting.

Which weapons systems are being used in the Iran war?

According to CENTCOM, Operation Epic Fury has involved more than 20 weapons systems across air, sea, land and missile defence forces.

CENTCOM says more than 1,000 targets inside Iran have been struck, using more than 20 different systems across the air, sea and land, as well as the missile defence force.

“The focus of the United States and Israelis now is to blunt or degrade – as quickly as they can – the offensive capabilities of the Iranians to keep wreaking havoc. You want to stop these attacks, or at least diminish them as much as you can,” Kevin Donegan, a former CENTCOM operations director, told Al Jazeera.

Some of the weapons systems include:

Air Power:

The campaign has relied heavily on US air assets, including:

• B-1 bombers
• B-2 stealth bombers: used to strike key nuclear and military infrastructure
• F-35 Lightning II & F-22 Raptor: advanced stealth fighters
• F-15 fighter jets: extensively used; three were lost in an incident over Kuwait on March 1
• F-16 Fighting Falcon, F/A-18 Super Hornet, and A-10 attacker jets: all confirmed for strike and support roles
• EA-18G Growler: used for electronic attack and suppressing enemy air defences
• Airborne early warning and control aircraft (AWACS): providing command, control and battle-space management.

Drones and long-range strike systems

Unmanned systems and rocket artillery are also part of the operation:

• LUCAS drones: This operation marks the first combat use of these “low-cost unmanned combat attack system” one-way drones, which were reverse-engineered from Iranian designs
• MQ-9 Reaper drones: active in surveillance and precision strike roles
• M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS):  ground-based rocket artillery
• Tomahawk Cruise Missiles: launched from naval assets.

Missile defence systems

• Patriot interceptor missile systems and THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense): used to intercept Iranian ballistic missiles and drones
• Counter-drone systems.

Naval power projection

• Two carrier strike groups, led by the USS Gerald R Ford and USS Abraham Lincoln: providing massive sea-based power
• P-8 Poseidon: conducting maritime patrol and reconnaissance
• Cargo and tankers: C-17 Globemaster, C-130 Hercules, and various aerial refuelling tankers are maintaining the logistics flow.

How much could the Iran war cost the US?

Predicting the total cost of an ongoing military campaign is difficult. According to experts, it is too early to say how much the new war might end up costing the US.

“The Pentagon has not published that information, and so we can only speculate…, but there’s a lot of moving pieces, and we can speculate on the cost of the individual weapons; we can speculate on the cost of the operations, the naval operations,” Christopher Peble, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center, told Al Jazeera.

Reports by the Anadolou news agency estimate that the US may have spent roughly $779m during the first 24 hours of Operation Epic Fury.

The pre-strike military build-up, including repositioning aircraft, deploying more than a dozen naval vessels and mobilising regional assets, is estimated to have cost an additional $630m.

According to the Center for New American Security, it costs approximately $6.5m a day to operate a carrier strike group, such as the USS Gerald R Ford.

There are also costs associated with equipment losses.

At least three US fighter jets were shot down in Kuwait, in what US officials described as a friendly-fire incident.

But experts suggest the bigger concern may not be the financial sustainability, but the inventory.

“It is sustainable with respect to the cost. I mean, we have a trillion-dollar defence budget in the US and a request to go to $1.5 trillion, which I find appalling, but which the president is committed to,” Preble said.

“So, a trillion dollars goes a long way. The question is about the actual inventory of weapons in the US arsenal, especially interceptors – things like Patriot missiles or SM-6s, standard missiles that are used as interceptors for ballistic missiles.”

Preble warned that high interception rates cannot continue indefinitely.

“It is reasonable to speculate that the pace of operations right now, in terms of numbers of interceptions, could not continue indefinitely, certainly, and perhaps could not continue for more than several weeks,” he said.

He noted that similar concerns arose during the 12-day conflict with Iran in June, when there was speculation that both US and Israeli forces were running low on interceptor stocks. While some supplies may have since been replenished, interceptors are also earmarked for other theatres.

“Some of these interceptors were intended to be sent to Ukraine to deal with Russian strikes. Some are used in Asia, in the Indo-Pacific. They would be important in the event of a contingency there,” he said. “So, there would be some concern with removing those weapons from that theatre.”

Manufacturing replacements is not instantaneous.

“A Patriot missile or an SM-6… is a very complicated piece of equipment,” Preble added.

“It’s not like they’re cranking them out, hundreds or thousands a day. That’s not the pace of manufacturing.”