https://theintercept.com/2026/03/17/trump-iran-war-cost/
total spent on war and military from 2002-2021 was $21 TRILLION
https://ips-dc.org/report-state-of-insecurity-cost-militariz...
Or maybe it has since there isn't yet an occupation.
Seriously what is in MAGA heads now, they voted this guy because they claimed Biden was spending money on wars like helping Ukraine, and now the peace maker, Trump needs a ton of money for his own wars.
To actually be a war Congress has to declare war. But they passed the War Powers Act so that they wouldn't have to do that.
In theory, the War Powers Act is limited to 60-90 days unless Congress approves funding. Which they may -- a bill to refuse funding failed. Which isn't the same thing, but even if they can't pass the authorization, it's not clear if that actually matters to anybody.
Anyway, the Department of Whatever its name is needs money.
"They have no shame, do they? They don't even bother to lie badly anymore. I suppose that's the final humiliation" - Senator Mon Mothma, Andor
But on a more serious non-political note, what is the end game here? It's not hard to see a future with a barren and destroyed landscape of Middle Eastern energy infrastructure, where neither the Gulf states nor Iran can reliably produce and export their energy due to continual risk.
The US can never fully defang Iran, unless it happens internally. And from history, we know that aerial bombing campaigns typically don't reinforce the civilian will for revolution.
So now we have a pariah state with a decapitated leadership structure, an array of Gulf states who cannot reliably defend their energy assets, and no will for a global detente because of the thousands of entangled interests that sit in the Gulf region.
Either this festers, or escalates, but no party seems to be willing to step down and accept a loss.
1) It's the current Iranian state has always been at war. They are at war with "the little Satan" (Israel) and "the Big Satan" (US). I know this sounds like a joke but they're absolutely 100% serious.
Serious enough to organize massacres ("terrorism") on unrelated individuals, like the Argentina bombing in the beginning and the Hezbollah massacres in Syria just last year.
And yes, there was a time of military cooperation between Iran and Israel (just after the beginning. Israel was instrumental and helped Iran avoid getting conquered by Iraq/Saddam Hussein and got intelligence on the Iraqi nuclear program in return). This has not changed anything for the ayatollahs.
And btw: the Soviet Union has had a much similar experience. They helped the mullahs get to power, helped defend against Iraq, and got an enemy in return, because the mullahs ... well presumably they saw what was happening in Afghanistan.
2) Blocking of the strait of Hormuz by Iran did not start when the current war started. Iran has always created problems for ships' passage through the strait. It has obviously been 10x'ed as a result of the recent aggression, but it's not like they left it alone before.
2) I think the more important difference is that a large amount of gulf state energy infrastructure is being literally blown up. That has not happened before. We also don't know where it will end.
The question is, how do we get Israel out of this forever war state?
There is a loooooooooooooooooooooong queue to pick up the torch.
As much as it may seem like a narrow political win for the US to prevent Chinese access to energy infrastructure, China will continue to electrify. At the same time, the US is still massively dependent on shipping and industrial outputs from China.
It's all entangled. As are the interests of most energy companies.
Defense contractors, apocalypse prophecy crusaders, and Lindsey Graham love it though. It's $200B not going to housing, food, healthcare, elder care, scientific advancement, or infrastructure and it's limited munitions not going to Ukraine to help defeat Putin.
"Almost over" but needs 180 days of funding without Congressional authorization for the declaration of war.
