What Trump's Iran War Costs Us

On September 18, 2026, the Pentagon told Congress the war had cost $45.1 billion: $43.6 billion through September 3, plus $1.5 billion for extra fuel. It does not count repairs to damaged bases. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the war costs another $2 billion to $3 billion a month after August 1. The counter adds the low end, about $66 million a day, from September 3 on.

• CNN: Iran war has cost $45.1 billion, Pentagon tells Congress
• UPI: Iran war has cost Pentagon at least $45.1 billion

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimates Americans paid $102,005,484,034 more for fuel as of September 26, 2026, about $763 per household. ITEP compares actual prices with what prices would normally have been for the season, using U.S. Energy Information Administration data. The counter adds ITEP's average since the war began, about $486 million a day.

• ITEP: Iran War Fuel Costs
• Brown University: Iran War Energy Cost Tracker (a separate estimate, $100.9 billion in early September)

The last full week before the first U.S. strikes on February 28, 2026, a gallon of regular in California averaged $4.44. For the week of September 21 it averaged $6.00, up $1.56. We multiply each week's increase over the pre-war price by the roughly 32.6 million gallons Californians buy each day (11.9 billion gallons a year at retail stations). That comes to about $7.3 billion through September 20, and about $51 million more every day at current prices.

This is a simple estimate. It does not adjust for the normal summer rise in gas prices, and it leaves out diesel.

• U.S. EIA: Weekly California regular gasoline retail prices
• California Energy Commission & CDTFA: 2025 review of gasoline prices and revenues (gallons sold)
• California Energy Commission: California gas prices and the impacts of the Iran war