War with Iran could cost the United States nearly $1 billion a day, according to a think tank that has broken down the average cost.
Experts say the specific cost of the war is unpredictable, but the average costs can be applied to every day of the war. Lindsay Koshgarian, program director of the National Priorities Project at the Institute of Policy Studies, told CNN the exact cost is impossible to know.
Koshgarian said, "This is highly unpredictable and so we won’t know the cost of it until it’s over. The cost of the war in Iraq ended up being almost $3 trillion. So this could, this could be astronomical, easily."
A think tank based in Washington D.C. believes the war with Iran is "costing about $891.4 million per day". The think tank analyzed information the Pentagon has shared about targets it struck and the assets involved in the operation.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies broke down the highest daily costs that could hit the US while the war continues. A CSIS spokesperson said, "However, future costs will depend mostly on the intensity of operations and the effectiveness of Iranian retaliation."
Air assets like non-stealth fighters and stealth fighters will cost the military $5 million each a day, while tanker and cargo use will see $9 million a day in expenditure. Naval assets will also be a large money sink for the war, with $5 million a day on Destroyers and $6 million a day on aircraft carriers.
Ground assets were assessed as the cheapest of the three fronts, but an expenditure of $1 million a day has been predicted by the CSIS on the artillery brigade.
Further predictions from the CSIS suggest that the first 100 hours of war with Iran have cost $3.7 billion. Kent Smetters, faculty director of the Penn Wharton Budget Model, said the cost of war is between $40 and $95 billion.
Smetters added it could cost "trillions upon trillions of dollars of damage."