WASHINGTON — The war in Iran has cost at least $12 billion so far, President Trump’s top economic adviser revealed Sunday.
Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, acknowledged that the total price of the war will continue to grow and downplayed any imminent need for supplemental funding from Congress.
“The latest number I was briefed on was $12 billion, and so it’s consistent,” Hassett told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “This is something that we’ve got the weapons [for] that we’ve already got in place to do this, and so we are not necessarily going to need any kind of supplemental.”
The war, which started Feb. 28, is now in its third week.
It’s not entirely clear how many days into the Iran war Hassett’s price tag covers, though he indicated it’s what “has been spent so far.”
Late last week, lawmakers were briefed that the Iran war had a “ballpark” cost of about $11 billion.
Rumors have swirled that the total cost of a supplemental funding package for the war could clock in at about $50 billion.
The Trump administration has been coy about the timeline for the war, with the president telling Axios, “Any time I want it to end, it will end.”
Trump has also publicly downplayed concerns about US munitions stockpiles to carry out the war, claiming earlier this month that Washington has “virtually unlimited supply of these weapons.”
His administration has been scrambling to address the fallout of Iran’s efforts to wreak havoc in the Strait of Hormuz, where about a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil flows through annually.
Safety concerns about oil vessels traversing the Strait have led to a surge in oil prices. Trump recently announced that US allies would help escort ships through the critical chokepoint.
“The big problem right now would be energy prices, and we’re watching and monitoring closely,” Hassett explained. “We’re looking at things every day and seeing how quickly we progress.”
“We expect that if Iran stops being this disruptive terrorist force in the Middle East that there will be a boom in oil production and industrial production,” he continued. “…We expect that the global economy is going to have a big positive shock as soon as this is over.”
Hassett also reiterated Trump’s claim that the war effort is “ahead of schedule.”
