In a closed-door briefing on March 10, Pentagon officials informed lawmakers that the first six days of the war on Iran cost the U.S. at least $11.3 billion. This figure does not accurately represent the total cost of the war – it excludes the cost of operating the military and battle damage sustained from Iran’s attacks. 

The Washington Post reported that in just the first two days of the conflict, $5.6 billion of munitions were used. This number came from an estimate delivered to lawmakers by the Pentagon on March 9. 

Experts have predicted that, barring any unexpected escalation, the daily cost of the war will diminish. This change can be attributed to the U.S. military shifting from using expensive weapons in the first few days to dropping free-falling bombs, according to Mark Cancian, senior advisor for the Defense and Security department of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He said that going forward, costs will be “probably half” of the very high costs for the first couple days. 

But even if daily costs are reduced, they remain high. Moreover, the especially troubling part is that we have no idea how long to expect the war, and thus the spending, to continue. The Trump administration has thus far refused to lay out a definite timeline for its operations in the Middle East. 

On March 1, a day after the initial strikes on Iran, Trump told the New York Times that the U.S. and Israel intended for the attacks to go on for “four to five weeks.” The very next day, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested that the campaign could last anywhere between two to eight weeks, refusing to offer any more specificity, while Trump claimed that the U.S. was “substantially ahead of our time projections.” 

On March 6, Trump demanded that Iran surrender on Truth Social; later that day, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was unable to articulate what would constitute a surrender. Leavitt said that a surrender would “essentially” occur when Trump concluded his war objectives had been met – yet Trump has not been open or consistent about what his war objectives are. The administration’s stated goal has shifted several times between dismantling Iran’s nuclear capabilities, to enacting regime change, to protecting the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump told CBS News on March 9 that “the war is very complete, pretty much,” despite Hegseth stating the previous day that “this is just the beginning.” On March 11, Trump proclaimed to supporters at a Kentucky rally, “You know, you never want to say too early you won. We won. The first hour, it was over.” In the same speech, Trump said, “We don’t want to leave early, do we? We’ve got to finish the job.” Hegseth told reporters on March 13 that “today will be yet again, the highest volume of strikes that America has put over the skies of Iran and Tehran.” 

The lack of cohesion in messaging about the scope and timeline of the war in Iran is extremely concerning. If Trump is contradicting himself over the course of one speech, as he did in Kentucky, what are voters supposed to believe about the duration of the conflict? Can anything he says about the war be taken at face value? 

Americans are currently left in the dark about a war that is being financed on their dime. According to CNN, five of seven polls over the past week have shown that Americans oppose the war by double digits. The polls also reveal that Americans believe that the war will be a net negative for national security. It seems that Americans would prefer that their tax dollars go towards efforts that actually help them – things like healthcare and food. 

A Pew Research Center survey from November 2025 found that 66% of Americans say that the federal government has a responsibility to make sure all Americans have healthcare coverage. Yet Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” enacted in July 2025, cuts $1.1 trillion from Medicaid and ACA marketplaces. As a result of the Republican megabill, 15 million Americans are projected to lose healthcare coverage by 2034, per the Congressional Budget Office. 

The roughly-$1 billion daily price tag of the war in Iran would be enough to cover the daily costs of SNAP benefits (food stamps) for over 40 million Americans, as well as daily Medicaid costs for the 15 million Americans expected to lose their healthcare coverage from the Big Beautiful Bill. 

The $11.3 billion spent by the U.S. in the first week of the war would also be enough to fund federal highway infrastructure programs for one year or to fund the National Park Service for 3.5 years, according to the Associated Press. 

Reports suggest that the Trump administration will soon be requesting another $50 billion in emergency funding for the military’s efforts in Iran – again, this is for a war that Trump said the U.S. already won. It is also key to recognize that the actual cost for the war is almost certainly greater than the numbers that have been reported. Initial cost estimates for the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were around $50 billion to $60 billion – but the Costs of War project at Brown University found that the wars ended up costing a combined $8 trillion. 

Democrats on Capitol Hill have been very vocally opposed to the war in Iran. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, speaking to reporters after a two-hour classified briefing, called the war strategy “incoherent and incomplete.” Senator Elizabeth Warren, who represents Massachusetts, corroborated on the lack of planning: “The Trump administration has no plan in Iran. This illegal war is based on lies and it was launched without any imminent threat to our nation. Trump has not given a single clear reason for the war and has no plan to end it.” 

On March 5, nearly every congressional Democrat voted to constrain Trump’s war powers in a resolution that was ultimately rejected by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. But the issue is not as partisan as Democratic lawmakers would have you believe. This week, a main talking point for Democrats has been, “We need to see Trump’s plans for Iran” – several lawmakers have requested hearings or investigations in their demand for answers. But far fewer liberal politicians have openly called for an end to the war. Rather than forcefully and concretely objecting to the war, far too many Democrats are leaving open the possibility of supporting the war if they receive a “plan.” 

We know that the war in Iran is unjust, unethical, and illegal; yet, it appears that congressional Democrats are more anti-Trump than anti-war. This notion is further supported by the fact that a majority of Democrats in both the House and Senate voted to pass the FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, which increased military spending to $901 billion. By comparison, only 4% of Democratic voters support increasing military spending, according to a 2025 poll by the Institute for Global Affairs at Eurasia Group. 

So far, U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran have killed around 1,500 Iranians and injured nearly 20,000 others. 13 U.S. soldiers have died in the conflict, as have 15 Israelis. In Trump’s most recent statement about the conflict, he told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade that the war would be over “when I feel it…when I feel it in my bones.” Going off “feeling” is an absurd thing to say in the midst of a war, when there are innocent people dying daily – Trump is essentially saying that he will keep killing people until he sees a good reason not to. It is further proof that the war in Iran must end immediately, and that not another penny should come from American taxpayers to fund the violence. 

Many more Americans want free healthcare than a war with Iran. Yet somehow this message is getting lost in translation by the time it reaches Congress. At this time, the onus is on Congress to not just claim to be a public servant, but to actually serve the public. Congress must stop acting in its self-interest and start prioritizing saving American lives over killing Iranians.