Open Source Iran War Cost Tracker: 45.7B(iranwarcost.com)
15 pointsby koverda4 hours ago5 comments
  • legitster3 hours ago
    Some problems:

    - The Aid package is not immediately spent all at once. It authorizes up to $26 billion, but the CBO estimates it may take all the way into 2033 to claim the money.

    - To that end, a lot of these costs are double counted. It's including the bill that authorizes these expenses, and then those expenses all in the same calculation.

    More realistically, the $6.5M/day in theater operations for a Carrier Strike Group is probably pretty accurate (In reality, they already cost the US about $30M/day just operate normally). The flyaway costs for the Tomahawk missiles are going to be about $1M each (a lot of price estimates include the R&D costs divided per units).

    In reality, the cost of a 60 day war with Iran using current methods at our current loss rates will get you closer to about $8-12B total cost. Which is still a lot more more incrementally accurate.

    • koverda3 hours ago
      Thank you for the feedback, I'll take it into account. Much appreciated!
  • nickff4 hours ago
    I was curious about the (AN/FPS-132) radar, which is a significant cost-driver, and have come away unsure as to whether it was a US-asset (which seems to be what this website is tracking). Qatar seems to have ordered one of these radars, and I can't see any record of the US installing one of its own at the facility in question, but it is not clear (to me) who owns this unit, though it seems most likely to be Qatar. Additionally, the widely-circulated image of the 'destroyed' radar appears to be 'fake', with satellite images showing less-than-catastrophic damage:

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/fact-check-fake-image-de...

    https://www.news18.com/world/iran-destroyed-uss-1-1-billion-...

    • koverda4 hours ago
      Pretty certain from this that it's a US asset: https://www.wpafb.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/111460...
      • nickff3 hours ago
        Thanks for your link! The text seems to indicate the equipment is Qatar-owned: “The foreign military sale agreement, signed Dec. 7, 2016, requested AFLCMC provide the radar itself and associated mission support facilities at a remote location in Qatar.”

        For context, in the case of foreign military sales, the US government usually buys the equipment from its suppliers, then resells it to the foreign government.

  • koverda4 hours ago
    I made a site a couple of days ago to track the cost of the iran war. It's open source, feel free to submit a PR or open an issue: https://github.com/koverda/iranwarcost.com
  • WalterGR4 hours ago
    Different tracker, but also see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47237080

    Iran War Cost Tracker (iran-cost-ticker.com) 312 points | 23 hours ago | 440 comments

    How does yours compare to that one?

    • koverda4 hours ago
      Mine seems to be a bit more focused and comprehensive on the financial expenditures by the US government, and open source. Also iran-cost-ticker.com seems to be "on hold" when i visit it.
      • WalterGR4 hours ago
        > Also iran-cost-ticker.com seems to be "on hold" when i visit it.

        That is certainly a difference between the two sites. :) (In my defense, I hadn't visited since yesterday.)

  • JohnTHaller3 hours ago
    The modern Iran War began in April 2024 when Israel bombed Iran's consulate in Syria, marking the first direct conflict between the countries.