A new analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies says the 39-day U.S. campaign against Iran cost the American defense establishment about $40 billion. The estimate includes munitions, destroyed equipment, and damage to bases, but not operating costs already built into the Pentagon’s 2026 budget, which is more than $1 trillion, the institute told CNN.
The biggest expense was weapons, at roughly $26 billion. Long-range missiles were especially costly, with U.S. Tomahawks said to cost about $2.5 million each, and Washington reportedly fired about 1,000 of them. The first 100 hours of the war alone were estimated at $3.7 billion, while the first 12 days reached about $17 billion.
CNN also reported that the Pentagon has requested an $80 billion budget increase, including about $20 billion for immediate needs created by the war with Iran. At the same time, the Trump administration is meeting with defense firms and pressing them to speed up weapons production after stocks were depleted during the campaign.
On the Iranian side, the war hit an already fragile economy, but the agreement with the United States appears to be giving Tehran a major economic lifeline. TankerTrackers said Iran exported 36 million barrels of oil in the past nine days, a jump of more than 1,000% from the roughly 250,000 barrels a day it was exporting during the U.S. blockade. With sanctions on the oil sector lifted under the deal, Iran is expected to earn billions more each month. Iran Open Data says the sanctions cost the country an average of $37 billion a year, and a rough estimate puts its oil revenue at about $2.7 billion in the last nine days.
