Iran War Exceeds $171 Billion in Military and Fuel Expenses

The Iran War has cost Americans more $170 billion, including hundreds of millions in military hardware accidentally destroyed by allies or intentionally blown up by the United States. Meanwhile, the expenses continue mounting as you read this.

A new report by the Lead Inspector General’s office says 81 aircraft have been destroyed or damaged, for a total of $3.3 billion in costs, a fraction of the overall $43 billion — and counting — sticker price for the war.

Then there’s the largest expense, the added fuel costs for Americans back home. That comes to billions of dollars.

The IG Report

The Lead IG breaks down the equipment report by aircraft. In March, three F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets were destroyed over Kuwait after Kuwaiti air defenses (allegedly) mistakenly shot them down. No American aircrew members died, and the Kuwaitis admitted to accidentally firing at them, according to a Centcom report.

Adjusted for inflation, an F-15E costs between $60 million and $65 million. The United States lost another one of these jets when it was shot down over Iran.

The military also had to blow up two Special Operations aircraft during a rescue mission. The military uses MC-130J planes in covert operations to extract troops from behind enemy lines. An official with knowledge of the mission told The Wall Street Journal “that it became necessary to destroy” the aircraft. The MC-130 costs a little more than $110 million apiece.

Six Americans died in a somewhat mysterious incident involving refueling aircraft. The event was not the result of hostile or friendly fire, according to Centcom, which reported that two aircraft were involved, with one crashing in Iraq. The short report does not say what happened. In a separate incident, Iran damaged five KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling aircraft at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.

The military also lost at least 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones, or about 25 percent of its fleet. The MQ-9 costs $56 million a piece. That puts the taxpayer loss at more than $2.5 billion just in Reapers. The military uses the Reaper around the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping corridor that has given the Iranians significant leverage.

Speaking of the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranians managed to shoot down an Apache helicopter there, which costs about $18 million, nowhere near what the Iranians spent to destroy it.

Pentagon and DoD report

Pentagon officials told Congress that the war has cost $43.6 billion as of September. Roll Call reported:

The Pentagon’s latest figure comprises $11.2 billion already obligated for operating expenses — for fuel, combat pay, aircraft, medical care, parts and the like — plus $32.4 billion in unfunded replacement costs for munitions, damaged aircraft and other assets

The Roll Call report says the $43 billion does not include the billions of additional dollars in damage to U.S. infrastructure in the Middle East.

The Department of Defense’s Office of the Inspector General issued a report saying the Iranians damaged and destroyed hundreds of buildings and structures at U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, and Jordan in the months of April, May, and June. The Iranians carried out 600 attacks in that period.

But these aren’t the largest added costs. The war has cost civilians, regular Americans back at home, an additional $128 billion just in extra gasoline and diesel costs, according to a Brown University analysis. The national average price for a gallon of gas pre-war was $2.98. That cost now is $4.36, a 46-percent increase. But it’s diesel drivers who are suffering the most. Diesel was $3.60 before the war began. Diesel has since increased by 72 percent to $6.30.

All this adds up to more than $171 billion, a conservative analysis that doesn’t account for the expenses accrued after these reports were compiled and the additional costs for American consumers in food and everything else that become more expensive as a result of the fuel spike.

War is expensive, and this particular one is not even over yet. Worse, this is a war that didn’t need to happen; a war supposedly over weapons the Iranians didn’t even have. This is the cost the American people are bearing for allowing the executive branch to make decisions it has no business making under the supreme law of the land, the U.S. Constitution. Ultimately, this is the cost of mass apathy and ignorance.