By Bongiwe Dlamini

MBABANE: As the United States-Israel war on Iran continues to escalate, questions have been raised about how much it is costing Washington, Aljazeera reported on Monday.

Late last week, two Congressional sources told US broadcaster MS NOW that the war is costing the United States an estimated $1billion a day and a day later, Politico reported that US Republicans on Capitol Hill privately fear the Pentagon is spending close to $2billion a day on the war.

Congress’s House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference last week that President Donald Trump is “plunging America into another endless conflict in the Middle East” and spending billions of dollars to bomb Iran.

“But they can’t find a dime to make it more affordable for the American people to go see a doctor when they need one. Can’t find a dime to make it easier for Americans who are working hard to purchase their first home. And they can’t find a dime to lower the grocery bills of the American people,” he said.

But Trump who won the 2024 Presidential election largely on promises to reduce the cost of living, has seen his popularity plummet. 

A Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted hours after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28, sparking region-wide retaliation, now shows dismal approval for the war from the United States public as well.

The Pentagon, the Headquarters of the US Department of Defense, has not released an official estimate of the cost of the war yet, but the soaring costs are unlikely to go down well with voters, analysts say, months before the midterm elections.

But to seek clarity on the actual cost of the war, Representative Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, has asked the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to analyse the exact cost of the war.

As the Trump administration prepares to ask Congress for more money to fund the war this week, here’s what we know about how much the war is costing the US each day.