Mark F. Cancian and Chris H. Park
As Operation Epic Fury—the U.S. military campaign against Iran—entered its sixth day on March 5, both President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth indicated that the conflict could continue for weeks. Members of Congress, the media, and the public are increasingly asking about the cost of this operation, with a wide range of estimates now being circulated. The first 100 hours (H+100) of the operation are estimated to cost $3.7 billion, or $891.4 million each day. Some of these costs are already budgeted, but most ($3.5 billion) are not. The shift of U.S. forces to less expensive munitions and the steep decline of Iranian drone and missile launches will drive costs down. However, future costs will depend mostly on the intensity of operations and the effectiveness of Iranian retaliation.
Table 1 summarizes the costs in three categories: operational costs (approximately $196 million total, with $178 million budgeted and the rest unbudgeted); munitions replacement (approximately $3.1 billion), none of which is currently budgeted; and replacing combat losses and repairing infrastructure damage (approximately $350 million), also unbudgeted. The unbudgeted costs will likely require additional Department of Defense (DOD) funding, either through a supplemental appropriation or another reconciliation bill.
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