▲ U.S. forces fire a Tomahawk missile
As the war with Iran enters its sixth month, the costs to be borne by U.S. taxpayers and consumers continue to rise, the U.S. daily The Washington Post (WP) reported on the 7th local time.
According to the report, military costs are currently showing higher estimates in the private sector than what has been announced by the U.S. Department of Defense.
On June 22, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared before a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee and stated, "So far, $37.5 billion (approx. 53 trillion won) has been spent."
Secretary Hegseth said that this cost partially includes additional projected operations and maintenance costs, troop pay, and other expenses through fiscal year 2026.
At the same time, he asked Congress for an additional budget of $67 billion (approx. 94.5 trillion won).
However, Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the U.S. think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), estimated the cost of the war at $35.2 billion to $42.5 billion (approx. 49.6 trillion won to 60 trillion won) as of June, factoring in troop deployments, munitions, increased operational frequency, equipment losses, base damages, and rising oil prices.
In particular, senior adviser Cancian estimated that the cost of munitions alone exceeded $26.1 billion (approx. 36.8 trillion won).
Elaine McCusker, a senior fellow at the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and a former principal deputy under secretary of defense, estimated the war cost at $38.6 billion (approx. 54.4 trillion won) as of June.
Senior fellow McCusker noted in particular that dividing these military costs by the U.S. population shows that each American bears $115 (approx. 162,000 won).
Linda Bilmes, a professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, stated that there are also "long-term costs" associated with the war, such as benefits provided to veterans and a surge in the defense budget, adding, "I have been saying since the outbreak that this war will cost about $1 trillion (approx. 1,410.3 trillion won)."
This calculation includes costs for replenishing munitions, rebuilding facilities, supporting allies, veterans' allowances, and repaying borrowed funds with interest.
Professor Bilmes told WP, "This is a very expensive operation, and U.S. taxpayers will bear the costs for years to come."
In addition, there are costs for rebuilding U.S. military bases in Middle Eastern allied nations that were excluded from the Pentagon's estimated war costs; AEI estimated that combining indirect costs such as base reconstruction, repairs, design, and engineering will run up to $5 billion (approx. 7 trillion won).
WP pointed out that beyond these direct and indirect military costs, the Iran war is triggering secondary costs for U.S. consumers, such as inflation and the resulting burdens.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, projected that the average U.S. household will have to spend an additional $1,000 (approx. 1.41 million won), and analyzed that an additional $250 (approx. 350,000 won) will incur in taxes going toward military costs.
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
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