At a glance
The 11-day conflict has killed 18 U.S. service members and wounded 447. A naval blockade has disrupted nine commercial vessels, raising shipping costs and threatening global trade.
Eleven days into the conflict, the U.S. has spent $37.5 billion while losing 18 service members and sustaining 447 wounded. The blockade on Iranian ports has trapped nine commercial vessels, which is already pushing up shipping costs globally and threatening supply chains that depend on reliable transit through the region.
That spending level puts the Iran conflict on track to become vastly more expensive than the 2003 Iraq invasion in its early weeks. The administration hasn't outlined conditions for ending the war or laid out a realistic timeline, which means Congress and the military are planning for years of operations, not months. The economic damage extends beyond the defense budget—every extra dollar spent on military operations is a dollar not spent on domestic priorities, and every disrupted shipping route feeds into inflation.
Citation trail
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