The Cost of the Iran War - What Could Have Been

Here's a look at six programs and how long they could have been funded with Trump's expenditures in Iran.

It’s been 19 days since Trump and Israel started their war against Iran. Contrary to Trump’s belief, who thought Iran would quickly “capitulate”, their regime fights on and has closed the Straight of Hormuz, sending Oil prices skyrocketing. Consumers in the US and around the world can already feel the war at the pump, but the real cost is accumulating as we speak right now, and it’s largely obscure for voters. In just 19 days, the Trump administration has spent an estimated 24 billion taxpayer dollars on the war against Iran. When we talk about government spending, the numbers always get big, so I tried to showcase the cost of the Iran war by showing what else that money could have paid for. You’ll be surprised what two-and-a-half weeks of a war no majority ever wanted could have paid for. You can watch the short video below, or view the story yourself here.

NOTE: Just before the publication of this post, the New York Times reported that the Pentagon is asking for $200 Billion dollars to fund the war. Since this money has not been approved by congress yet, we are sticking with the $24 billion already spent.

The most striking and most hypocritical revelation is that, in just 19 days, Trump managed to spend more in Iran than USAID spent across the world in an entire year. Why is that hypocritical? Because we all remember Elon Musk and his promise to slash unnecessary government spending as a driving force behind Trump’s 2024 campaign. In the end, Musk didn’t reduce spending meaningfully. What he managed to do was shutter USAID, an organization fighting starvation and diseases across the world. Over 800,000 people have died as a result of Musk’s shutdown of USAID, many of them children. All to save the roughly $20 billion in expenditures the institution had listed for 2024. Not even a year later, Trump has found a way to spend that sum and more within weeks, making one wonder if it was really ever about the money.

SNAP benefits have also been in the spotlight in 2025, as Trump threatened to cut them during the shutdown fight with Democrats. The food stamp benefits cost the US $102 Billion Dollars a year. That is a lot of money, but it’s also just 1.4% of the total US budget. 19 days of Trump’s war with Iran could have paid the United States’ entire SNAP program for three months.

The National School Lunch Program, which provides low-cost or free lunches to children in American schools and child care institutions, costs the American taxpayer $17.7 Billion every year. Had Trump not attacked Iran, the US would have had enough money to fund the program for one year and four months.

The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, costs the US $130 Billion per year. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the ACA actually saves the US money, and repealing it would increase the deficit. Republicans have nevertheless been persistent in their attempts to gut and repeal the ACA, but 19 days of Trump’s war could have funded it for 2,2 months. In the end, providing more Americans with better healthcare coverage is cheaper than bombing the Middle East.

Perhaps the most stunning example in this little project is Mayor Mamdani’s proposal to make NYC’s buses free for everyone. The project was often criticized for being too costly to be attainable. Well, with the money that Trump has spent in Iran, a sum growing by at least $1 Billion each day, Mamdani could make NYC’s buses free for over three decades (34 years and 3 months, to be precise).

With the midterms and the 2028 presidential campaigns approaching, it is important to remember those facts. Because it is an absolute certainty that Republicans (& and their friends on Fox News) will call a lot of proposals for healthcare, social security, or transport “too expensive” while gladly pouring the money into a war of choice.