Iranian Foreign Minister puts US cost of war in the Middle East at an astonishing $100 billion, questioning Biden's decision to invade
'The Pentagon Is Lying': Iranian Foreign Minister Puts US Cost of War at $100 Billion Iraqi father-of-five Issa al-Zamzoum walks past a destroyed house in the war-ravaged village of Habash, some 180 kilometers north of Iraq's capital Baghdad, on April 25, 2022.
A Memorial Day Reminder: Not One Post-9/11 War Has Been Worth It Our leaders continue to spend money on wars they think will make the United States the undisputed power in the world—wars that instead kill millions of people abroad, endanger US troops, and make life harder at home. The Iran war has killed thousands of Iranians and Lebanese and displaced hundreds of thousands more.
People in poor countries around the world are facing fuel shortages, power outages, and food insecurity, with much worse to come. , and the cost is only going up—not just at the gas pump but in opportunity. For that $50 billion, we could have paid forFor the $16 trillion the US had spent on the military after 9/11 before the Iran war, we could have made transformative investments in healthcare, education, and.
UN inspectors kept a watchful eye on Iran’s reactors, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz flowed freely, and Iran was still not trying to build a nuclear weapon, maintaining that a bomb would violate Islamic law.and ratcheted up threats against Iran. Eventually, those threats turned into reality—first in a short-term bombing campaign in June 2025 and then a full-scale US-Israeli war this year.that “we’ve won,” the war continues months later.
Thousands are dead, gas prices are shockingly high, and the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed. It’s easy to say that diplomacy works and war does not. That’s not just a statement of principle—it’s the truth.worked to change Iran’s behavior. It wasn’t because the US asked nicely.
It was because the US negotiated seriously; changed its own aggressive behavior; and stopped using its economic, political, and strategic power as acts of war against Iran. Is this war worth the human, economic, or environmental costs? Clearly not.
You could say the same of Trump’s other second-term conflicts—including his support for Israel’s In fact, today most Americans would agree that none of the major wars in this country’s recent memory have been worthwhile—not inafter 9/11 before the Iran war, we could have made transformative investments in healthcare, education, and renewable energy. We could have erased Instead, our leaders continue to spend money on wars they think will make the United States the undisputed power in the world—wars that instead kill millions of people abroad, endanger US troops, and make life harder at home.know this.
“The US has been at war in one form or another since my deployment in the Persian Gulf, 36 years ago,” said Michael McPhearson, executive director of Veterans for Peace.service members dead, and tens of thousands wounded. The toll on the rest of the world is even more staggering, while warmongers and those who send us to war get richer,” he added.
“It’s time to invest in people and life and stop spending money on death and destruction,” McPhearson said. It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project.
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Phyllis Bennis is a fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies and serves on the national board of Jewish Voice for Peace. Her most recent book is"Understanding Palestine and Israel" . Her other books include:"Understanding the US-Iran Crisis: A Primer" and"Challenging Empire: How People, Governments, and the UN Defy US Power" . The Iran war has killed thousands of Iranians and Lebanese and displaced hundreds of thousands more.
People in poor countries around the world are facing fuel shortages, power outages, and food insecurity, with much worse to come. , and the cost is only going up—not just at the gas pump but in opportunity. For that $50 billion, we could have paid forFor the $16 trillion the US had spent on the military after 9/11 before the Iran war, we could have made transformative investments in healthcare, education, and.
UN inspectors kept a watchful eye on Iran’s reactors, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz flowed freely, and Iran was still not trying to build a nuclear weapon, maintaining that a bomb would violate Islamic law.and ratcheted up threats against Iran. Eventually, those threats turned into reality—first in a short-term bombing campaign in June 2025 and then a full-scale US-Israeli war this year.that “we’ve won,” the war continues months later.
Thousands are dead, gas prices are shockingly high, and the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed. It’s easy to say that diplomacy works and war does not. That’s not just a statement of principle—it’s the truth.worked to change Iran’s behavior. It wasn’t because the US asked nicely.
It was because the US negotiated seriously; changed its own aggressive behavior; and stopped using its economic, political, and strategic power as acts of war against Iran. Is this war worth the human, economic, or environmental costs? Clearly not.
You could say the same of Trump’s other second-term conflicts—including his support for Israel’s In fact, today most Americans would agree that none of the major wars in this country’s recent memory have been worthwhile—not inafter 9/11 before the Iran war, we could have made transformative investments in healthcare, education, and renewable energy. We could have erased Instead, our leaders continue to spend money on wars they think will make the United States the undisputed power in the world—wars that instead kill millions of people abroad, endanger US troops, and make life harder at home.know this.
“The US has been at war in one form or another since my deployment in the Persian Gulf, 36 years ago,” said Michael McPhearson, executive director of Veterans for Peace.service members dead, and tens of thousands wounded. The toll on the rest of the world is even more staggering, while warmongers and those who send us to war get richer,” he added.
“It’s time to invest in people and life and stop spending money on death and destruction,” McPhearson said. After 9/11: The Staggering Economic and Human Cost of the War on Terror ›Major US Wars Since Korea Killed Over 4 Million Civilians, Cost Nearly $6 Trillion: Analysis ›Phyllis Bennis Phyllis Bennis is a fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies and serves on the national board of Jewish Voice for Peace. Her most recent book is"Understanding Palestine and Israel" .
Her other books include:"Understanding the US-Iran Crisis: A Primer" and"Challenging Empire: How People, Governments, and the UN Defy US Power" . The Iran war has killed thousands of Iranians and Lebanese and displaced hundreds of thousands more. People in poor countries around the world are facing fuel shortages, power outages, and food insecurity, with much worse to come. , and the cost is only going up—not just at the gas pump but in opportunity.
For that $50 billion, we could have paid forFor the $16 trillion the US had spent on the military after 9/11 before the Iran war, we could have made transformative investments in healthcare, education, and. UN inspectors kept a watchful eye on Iran’s reactors, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz flowed freely, and Iran was still not trying to build a nuclear weapon, maintaining that a bomb would violate Islamic law.and ratcheted up threats against Iran.
Eventually, those threats turned into reality—first in a short-term bombing campaign in June 2025 and then a full-scale US-Israeli war this year.that “we’ve won,” the war continues months later. Thousands are dead, gas prices are shockingly high, and the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed. It’s easy to say that diplomacy works and war does not. That’s not just a statement of principle—it’s the truth.worked to change Iran’s behavior.
It wasn’t because the US asked nicely. It was because the US negotiated seriously; changed its own aggressive behavior; and stopped using its economic, political, and strategic power as acts of war against Iran. Is this war worth the human, economic, or environmental costs? Clearly not.
You could say the same of Trump’s other second-term conflicts—including his support for Israel’s In fact, today most Americans would agree that none of the major wars in this country’s recent memory have been worthwhile—not inafter 9/11 before the Iran war, we could have made transformative investments in healthcare, education, and renewable energy. We could have erased Instead, our leaders continue to spend money on wars they think will make the United States the undisputed power in the world—wars that instead kill millions of people abroad, endanger US troops, and make life harder at home.know this.
“The US has been at war in one form or another since my deployment in the Persian Gulf, 36 years ago,” said Michael McPhearson, executive director of Veterans for Peace.service members dead, and tens of thousands wounded. The toll on the rest of the world is even more staggering, while warmongers and those who send us to war get richer,” he added.
“It’s time to invest in people and life and stop spending money on death and destruction,” McPhearson said. After 9/11: The Staggering Economic and Human Cost of the War on Terror ›Major US Wars Since Korea Killed Over 4 Million Civilians, Cost Nearly $6 Trillion: Analysis ›The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful.
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