Latest Developments — Day 17 (March 16)
MAJOR ESCALATION: Israel expands ground operation in southern Lebanon. Tehran airport area struck. Dubai airport hit by drone. Baghdad airport attacked. Mojtaba Khamenei appoints former IRGC chief as military adviser.
Day 16Trump pressures NATO and China to send warships to Hormuz — gets little traction. Iran FM: "We never asked for a cease-fire." Oil past $106/barrel. California gas exceeds $5/gallon.
Day 15CENTCOM strikes Kharg Island — Iran's oil export hub. 2,500 Marines ordered to Middle East. CSIS: $16.5B cost through first 12 days. Baghdad embassy helipad hit by missile.
Day 14All 6 KC-135 crew confirmed dead — US death toll hits 13+. New Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei vows attacks continue. 15,000+ targets struck. 1,444 killed in Iran.
Day 13KC-135 tanker crashes in Iraq. Israel claims top nuclear scientists killed. Tehran sets 3 conditions for peace. Oil tankers hit in Iraq.
Iran War 2026 — Analysis & Data
Total US War Spending Since 9/11
$336,421,458
Spent on defense today (live)
$5,787/second
~$500M/day · Based on Brown University Costs of War ($8.1T base)
The Price of American Empire
Every US war, intervention, and military action — the cost in dollars, lives, and liberty.
WarCosts is a free, data-driven transparency platform. No ads. No paywall. No defense industry sponsors. Just the numbers — sourced from Brown University, CRS, SIPRI, and the Pentagon's own reports.
Last updated: March 12, 2026
$11.5T
Total Cost
1.0M+
Americans Killed
5.2M+
Civilians Killed
36
Major Conflicts
469
Military interventions since 1798
$28K/sec
Current military spending rate
13W–5L–13I
Win/Loss/Inconclusive record
26 of 36
Wars without Congress
26 of 36
Undeclared Wars
No congressional authorization
750
Overseas Bases
In 80 countries
$886B
Annual Budget
3.4% of GDP
$8T
War on Terror
940,000 killed
$68B
Foreign Aid
Per year
Start Exploring
Choose your entry point into the data.
🆕 New Features
US Military Spending
$886B/year — more than the next 10 countries combined
📊Cost of War
$11.3 trillion since 1776. $8T since 9/11 alone.
⚔️Every US War
36 wars, 469 interventions, 5 declared by Congress
🎗️Veteran Suicide
17 per day. More than die in combat.
🔥Modern Wars
The forever wars — 1995 to present
🏛️Defense Budget
Where every dollar goes. Never audited.
👥Who Fights Our Wars?
The demographics of those who die for America
📈Cost Overruns Database
F-35: $1.7T and counting. Every boondoggle documented.
🧾Your Tax Receipt
How much of YOUR money funds the military
🧮Your War Cost
Lifetime military spending in your name
📚Military Glossary
Decode the acronyms: JSOC, CENTCOM, MIC, and more
📅Interactive Timeline
Every war, intervention, and covert op since 1776
Since 2001, the US has spent $8T and lost 940,000 lives
in the War on Terror
78 countries. 38 million displaced. 6 operations still ongoing.
7 Active Operations
GWOT (Other)
2001–Present · Global
$95B
Drone Wars
2004–Present · Multiple (Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya)
$30B
Somalia (AFRICOM)
2007–Present · Africa
$5B
Anti-ISIS
2014–Present · Middle East
$115B
Ukraine Aid
2022–Present · Europe
$175B
Iran 2026
2026–Present · Middle East
$11.3B
Lebanon 2023
2023–Present · Middle East
$21.7B
Major Conflicts
Vietnam War
Defeat1955–1975 · Southeast Asia
$1T
Cost
58,220
US Deaths
2,000,000
Civilian Deaths
Afghanistan
Defeat2001–2021 · Central Asia
$2.3T
Cost
2,461
US Deaths
176,000
Civilian Deaths
Iraq War
Pyrrhic victory / Strategic defeat2003–2011 · Middle East
$2T
Cost
4,431
US Deaths
300,000
Civilian Deaths
Korean War
Stalemate / Armistice1950–1953 · East Asia
$389B
Cost
36,574
US Deaths
2,000,000
Civilian Deaths
World War II
Victory (Allied)1941–1945 · Europe / Pacific / North Africa
$4.8T
Cost
405,399
US Deaths
50,000,000
Civilian Deaths
Gulf War
Victory1990–1991 · Middle East
$136B
Cost
382
US Deaths
3,500
Civilian Deaths
Our Data Sources
Every number on this site is sourced from official government reports, peer-reviewed academic research, and established investigative organizations.
Brown University
Costs of War Project
Congressional Research Service
CRS Reports
SIPRI
Military Expenditure Database
Dept. of Defense
DMDC, Base Structure Reports
OMB
Historical Budget Tables
Bureau of Labor Statistics
CPI Inflation Data
What Else Could $8T Buy?
The War on Terror alone cost $8T. Here's what that money could have done instead.
101×
Free public college for all Americans (4 years)
Could have funded free college for over a century.
222×
Universal pre-K for every child
Over 200 years of universal pre-K.
400×
Clean drinking water for entire world
400 years of clean water for every human on earth.
400×
End homelessness in America
Could end homelessness 400 times over.
127M×
Elementary school teachers' annual salary
127 million teacher-years.
107M×
Average American household income
A year's income for 107 million families.
Featured Analysis
Our most impactful investigations into the cost of American military power.
The Lies That Started Wars
Gulf of Tonkin. WMDs. Incubator babies. A pattern of deception that cost millions of lives.
Read →The Cost of Secrecy
$18.5B/year on classification. What are they hiding and what does it cost us?
Read →Empire of Bases
750 bases in 80 countries. No other empire in history has maintained this kind of global footprint.
Read →Veterans Betrayed
We send them to war, then abandon them. The VA crisis in numbers.
Read →The War Economy
How defense spending shapes — and distorts — the American economy.
Read →Allies and Enemies
We armed the Mujahideen, then fought them. We backed Saddam, then toppled him. The pattern repeats.
Read →Share the Truth
Pre-designed stat cards you can screenshot and share on social media.
View Shareable Stats →Stay Informed
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“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed.”
— Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953
Iran War 2026 — Deep Analysis
The most comprehensive coverage of Operation Epic Fury's costs, casualties, and consequences.
Whose War Is This?
The full Day 1–7 timeline. How diplomacy failed and bombs started falling.
The $28,095-Per-Second War
Every Tomahawk ($2.5M), B-2 sortie ($4.5M), and SM-3 interceptor ($36M) — priced and sourced.
The Civilian Cost
180 schoolgirls. Grand Bazaar destroyed. Golestan Palace in rubble. What "precision" looks like.
11 Countries, 7 Days
How a two-country war engulfed Iran, Israel, Lebanon, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Cyprus, Azerbaijan.
Russia's Shadow War
Moscow is sharing US military positions with Iran. Americans are dying with Russian help.
Hormuz: The $80B Chokepoint
21 miles wide. 20% of global oil. Iran closed it. There is no detour.
More Analysis
The War on Terror: $8 Trillion Later
929,000 dead. Four countries destabilized. Was it worth it?
19 Wars Without Congress
How presidents bypassed the Constitution to wage war.
Blowback
How US interventions created the enemies of tomorrow.
The Military-Industrial Complex
Eisenhower warned us. We didn't listen.
The Human Cost
17 veterans take their own lives every day.
Empire of Bases
750 bases in 80 countries. Why?
Why This Site Exists
The Founders believed that a free people must understand what their government does in their name — especially when it comes to war. James Madison warned that “of all the enemies to public liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded.”
WarCosts exists to make the costs of American military power visible, measurable, and undeniable. Not through opinion or ideology, but through data — sourced from the government's own reports, peer-reviewed academic research, and established investigative organizations.
Free. No ads. No paywall. No defense industry sponsors. A TheDataProject.ai platform.