Warren Slams Trump for Iran War Costing ‘American Taxpayers $11,500 Per Second’
According to more recent Pentagon figures, it’s actually even worse.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) talks with reporters after a Senate Armed Services Committee closed briefing on the Iran war, in the Capitol Visitor Center on Tuesday, March 10, 2026.
(Photo by Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
This is, of course, not an exact amount. The figure is based on a preliminary estimate provided by Pentagon officials to Congress last week, estimating that the war would cost about $1 billion per day.
And so far, the war has actually been even more expensive than Warren initially claimed.
On Tuesday, according to the New York Times, the Pentagon gave a more comprehensive briefing, telling Congress that just the first six days of the war had exceeded $11.3 billion in cost, which puts the price tag at about $1.88 billion per day. That’s nearly $21,800 per second.
The Times noted that this was a low-end estimate and that the pricetag did not include many other costs, including those associated with the buildup of military hardware in the region before the war.
Using just these conservative estimates, a live ticker shows that as of Friday afternoon, the estimated cost of the war that began on February 28 is already fast approaching $19 billion, less than two weeks later.
“If we took the money that Donald Trump is demanding to fund the war with Iran and used that money here at home, instead, we could help cover healthcare costs for millions more Americans all across this country,” Warren said.
Indeed, an analysis published last week by the Institute for Policy Studies’ National Priorities Project (NPP), based on the $1 billion-per-day figure, found that on an annual basis, the cost of the war is “higher than the appropriated budget of any federal agency except the Pentagon itself.”
If all that money were spent domestically, it found, it would be enough to cover the daily costs of federal nutrition assistance for more than 40 million Americans, as well as daily Medicaid costs for the roughly 16 million people expected to lose health coverage due to the Republican budget package that Trump signed into law last year.
As Warren pointed out, calculations of military spending do not even take into account the sharp hikes in gas prices Americans are facing as a result of the war, which has led Iran to retaliate by closing one of the world’s largest oil shipment routes, the Strait of Hormuz.
According to the American Automobile Association’s (AAA) gas price tracker, US gas prices have leaped to $3.63 per gallon on average as of Friday, up from $2.94 a month ago.
“We haven’t seen gas prices jump this much since Russia invaded Ukraine,” Warren said. “Some cities in Indiana and Ohio have already seen a jump of over 50 cents a gallon. In Texas and Virginia, prices are up by more than 65 cents.”
Citing an image of a Chevron station in Los Angeles posted by a user on TikTok, Warren said: “California is seeing gas prices above $8.” According to AAA, the average cost of gas in the state is $5.42.
Despite rising anger from voters—more than 7 in 10 of whom said in a recent Quinnipiac poll that they fear higher oil and gas costs as a result of the war—Trump has said carrying out his objectives in Iran “is far more important than having gasoline prices go up a little bit.”
In a post to Truth Social on Thursday, the president framed higher prices as a positive: “The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money,” he wrote.
While this may be true for Americans who own oil and gas companies, most do not. For the average American, higher gas prices can raise the cost of transportation sometimes by thousands of dollars per year, cutting into spending on food, rent, medicine, and other essentials.
“For someone who campaigned on lowering costs on day one, Donald Trump is constantly raising the bar for how expensive he can make it to live in this country,” Warren said.
Referencing Republican opposition to extending Affordable Care Act subsidies that lowered healthcare premiums for more than 20 million Americans, Warren implored viewers to “never forget that Donald Trump said we just can’t afford to lower health care costs this year.”
“These are about choices,” she said, “and Donald Trump is making the wrong ones.”
According to more recent Pentagon figures, it’s actually even worse.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) talks with reporters after a Senate Armed Services Committee closed briefing on the Iran war, in the Capitol Visitor Center on Tuesday, March 10, 2026.
(Photo by Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Stephen Prager
Mar 13, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
Sen. Elizabeth Warren took President Donald Trump to task on Friday for making life “more expensive” with his war in Iran.
“It’s costing American taxpayers $1 billion a day to fund this war,” the Massachusetts Democrat said in a video posted to her social media accounts. “That is $11,500 every single second.”
Mar 13, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
Sen. Elizabeth Warren took President Donald Trump to task on Friday for making life “more expensive” with his war in Iran.
“It’s costing American taxpayers $1 billion a day to fund this war,” the Massachusetts Democrat said in a video posted to her social media accounts. “That is $11,500 every single second.”
This is, of course, not an exact amount. The figure is based on a preliminary estimate provided by Pentagon officials to Congress last week, estimating that the war would cost about $1 billion per day.
And so far, the war has actually been even more expensive than Warren initially claimed.
On Tuesday, according to the New York Times, the Pentagon gave a more comprehensive briefing, telling Congress that just the first six days of the war had exceeded $11.3 billion in cost, which puts the price tag at about $1.88 billion per day. That’s nearly $21,800 per second.
The Times noted that this was a low-end estimate and that the pricetag did not include many other costs, including those associated with the buildup of military hardware in the region before the war.
Using just these conservative estimates, a live ticker shows that as of Friday afternoon, the estimated cost of the war that began on February 28 is already fast approaching $19 billion, less than two weeks later.
“If we took the money that Donald Trump is demanding to fund the war with Iran and used that money here at home, instead, we could help cover healthcare costs for millions more Americans all across this country,” Warren said.
Indeed, an analysis published last week by the Institute for Policy Studies’ National Priorities Project (NPP), based on the $1 billion-per-day figure, found that on an annual basis, the cost of the war is “higher than the appropriated budget of any federal agency except the Pentagon itself.”
If all that money were spent domestically, it found, it would be enough to cover the daily costs of federal nutrition assistance for more than 40 million Americans, as well as daily Medicaid costs for the roughly 16 million people expected to lose health coverage due to the Republican budget package that Trump signed into law last year.
As Warren pointed out, calculations of military spending do not even take into account the sharp hikes in gas prices Americans are facing as a result of the war, which has led Iran to retaliate by closing one of the world’s largest oil shipment routes, the Strait of Hormuz.
According to the American Automobile Association’s (AAA) gas price tracker, US gas prices have leaped to $3.63 per gallon on average as of Friday, up from $2.94 a month ago.
“We haven’t seen gas prices jump this much since Russia invaded Ukraine,” Warren said. “Some cities in Indiana and Ohio have already seen a jump of over 50 cents a gallon. In Texas and Virginia, prices are up by more than 65 cents.”
Citing an image of a Chevron station in Los Angeles posted by a user on TikTok, Warren said: “California is seeing gas prices above $8.” According to AAA, the average cost of gas in the state is $5.42.
Despite rising anger from voters—more than 7 in 10 of whom said in a recent Quinnipiac poll that they fear higher oil and gas costs as a result of the war—Trump has said carrying out his objectives in Iran “is far more important than having gasoline prices go up a little bit.”
In a post to Truth Social on Thursday, the president framed higher prices as a positive: “The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money,” he wrote.
While this may be true for Americans who own oil and gas companies, most do not. For the average American, higher gas prices can raise the cost of transportation sometimes by thousands of dollars per year, cutting into spending on food, rent, medicine, and other essentials.
“For someone who campaigned on lowering costs on day one, Donald Trump is constantly raising the bar for how expensive he can make it to live in this country,” Warren said.
Referencing Republican opposition to extending Affordable Care Act subsidies that lowered healthcare premiums for more than 20 million Americans, Warren implored viewers to “never forget that Donald Trump said we just can’t afford to lower health care costs this year.”
“These are about choices,” she said, “and Donald Trump is making the wrong ones.”
David McAfee
March 14, 2026
RAW STORY
President Donald Trump's military actions in Iran are effectively functioning as a hidden tax on American households, economists warn, as soaring energy costs threaten to erase anticipated benefits from larger tax refunds this filing season.
Americans are poised to receive bigger refunds than last year, with the average federal tax refund reaching $3,742 as of late February—about 10.6% higher than 2025. However, the economic fallout from the Iran conflict is rapidly negating that windfall, according to a new report.
Since the U.S. military actions in Iran began, oil prices have skyrocketed, sending gas and diesel costs surging. The average price of unleaded gasoline jumped to $3.64 per gallon on Friday, roughly $0.72 higher than the previous month's average. Mortgage rates have also climbed sharply to 6.41% for a 30-year fixed-rate loan, up from 5.9% before the conflict.
"The Iran war acts like a tax increase on the consumer, except nobody voted for it," said Paul Dietrich, chief investment strategist at Wedbush Securities.
The burden falls disproportionately on lower-income Americans, who spend a larger percentage of their budgets on fuel and energy. As households redirect refund money toward gas and groceries rather than discretionary spending, the broader economy loses the boost that tax refunds typically provide.
Experts caution that while tax refunds could help insulate consumers from immediate shocks, the economic damage from elevated energy costs and inflation pressures will likely persist throughout 2026, undermining household purchasing power across income levels.
Read the full report here.
President Donald Trump's military actions in Iran are effectively functioning as a hidden tax on American households, economists warn, as soaring energy costs threaten to erase anticipated benefits from larger tax refunds this filing season.
Americans are poised to receive bigger refunds than last year, with the average federal tax refund reaching $3,742 as of late February—about 10.6% higher than 2025. However, the economic fallout from the Iran conflict is rapidly negating that windfall, according to a new report.
Since the U.S. military actions in Iran began, oil prices have skyrocketed, sending gas and diesel costs surging. The average price of unleaded gasoline jumped to $3.64 per gallon on Friday, roughly $0.72 higher than the previous month's average. Mortgage rates have also climbed sharply to 6.41% for a 30-year fixed-rate loan, up from 5.9% before the conflict.
"The Iran war acts like a tax increase on the consumer, except nobody voted for it," said Paul Dietrich, chief investment strategist at Wedbush Securities.
The burden falls disproportionately on lower-income Americans, who spend a larger percentage of their budgets on fuel and energy. As households redirect refund money toward gas and groceries rather than discretionary spending, the broader economy loses the boost that tax refunds typically provide.
Experts caution that while tax refunds could help insulate consumers from immediate shocks, the economic damage from elevated energy costs and inflation pressures will likely persist throughout 2026, undermining household purchasing power across income levels.
Read the full report here.
