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How much is the war in Iran costing the American people?

The Pentagon says $25 billion.

So approximately at this day, we're spending about $25 billion on Operation Epic Fury.

Most of that is munitions. There's part of that it's obviously O&M and equipment replacement.

But as the legendary journalist, I.F. Stone would say, all governments lie. And Democratic

leaders are skeptical of the Pentagon's pricing, including how much they've spent on bombs,

missiles, and everything else that goes into a war.

Here's a fiery exchange between Congressman Rokhanna and Defense Secretary Pete Hegeseth about just that.

Do you know how much it will cost Americans in terms of their increased cost in gas and food over the

next year because of the Iran war?

I would simply ask you what the cost is of an Iranian nuclear bomb. I'm going to give you that. I would simply ask you what the... You're playing gotcha questions about domestic things. I'm not... You're saying it's a gotcha question to ask what it's going to be in terms of the increased plus the gas... Why won't you answer what it costs to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb? I give you that, sir. But let me- What would it cost? What would you pay to ensure Iran doesn't get a nuclear bomb? Do you- What would you pay? Sir, do I reclaim my time. Do you not know, you had no one do the analysis of what the increased cost of gas and food and the American people are going to be? What is the cost of Iran holding that straight at issue with nuclear weapons?

It's $631 billion.

Some experts say the real cost of the war, now in its third month, could be a lot higher than $25 billion.

Harvard professor Linda Bilms says the war could cost up to $1 trillion.

Wars always cost more than expected, is how she puts it.

And in the early 2000s, according to Billms, former president George W. Bush fired Larry Lindsay,

his economic advisor for suggesting that the Iraq roar would have a price tag of $200 billion.

In fact, it ended up costing, in her estimate, $5 trillion.

$1 trillion on the Iran War is still a huge number.

It's about the GDP of the Netherlands, or put another way,

it could be a universal basic income of $3,000 for every American.

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