The US war against Iran has cost $38 billion and caused higher energy prices and inflationary pressures

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said on Tuesday (September 15, 2026) that the cost of the six-month-long US war against Iran has reached $38 billion so far.

The budget office said the majority of costs stem from the rapid depletion of munitions, and estimated that replenishing US stockpiles could take five years.

The rising costs have led to the depletion of US ammunition stocks and rising energy prices, raising concerns about the country's ability to respond to any further potential conflicts, and increasing pressure on the already strained federal budget.

The cost was close to the $37.5 billion reported by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at a Senate hearing on July 21.

Representatives of the White House and the Pentagon have not yet responded to requests for comment from Reuters.

The investigation was conducted at the request of the Democratic leader of the US House of Representatives Budget Committee, Brendan Boyle from Pennsylvania.

18 members of the American armed forces were killed in the war with Iran.

The report did not include the costs of the latest strikes that targeted commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on US military installations in the region.

It also did not take into account the borrowing expenses associated with financing the war, which could add tens of billions of dollars to the total cost.

The report estimated that the main economic impact of the conflict with Iran is the inflationary pressures resulting from disturbances in oil and natural gas prices, as a result of Tehran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The CBO estimates that inflation (consumer price index) in the first quarter of next year will be 0.5 percentage points higher than it forecast in February. The office expected that "core inflation", which excludes the food and energy sectors, would also be 0.3 percentage points higher compared to previous estimates.

Today, Tuesday (September 15, 2026), Republican Representative in the US Congress, Thomas Massie, presented provisions for the procedures for removing Defense Minister Pete Hegseth, accusing him of abusing his position by implementing an order to launch hostilities against Iran without the approval of Congress.

Massie presented the articles of impeachment against Hegseth as priority, meaning the House must consider them within two days of legislative work.

“The entire department is united behind the secretary’s vision and will continue to work to put our warfighters and America’s interests first,” Pentagon spokesman Kingsley Wilson said in an emailed statement.

It is unlikely that the impeachment decision will be approved, but this step taken by the Republican representative from Kentucky may force a vote in the House of Representatives, which may pose a difficulty for some of his Republican colleagues who are preparing to leave Washington before the midterm elections scheduled for November.

Massie, an outspoken critic of the war on Iran and aid to Israel, will not run for re-election. He lost the May primary to Ed Gallerin, a candidate backed by Republican President Donald Trump, after Massie angered the president by leading a campaign to unseal Justice Department files linked to the late businessman convicted of sex crimes Jeffrey Epstein.

Opinion polls indicate that the war that began with attacks launched by the United States and Israel against Iran on February 28 is unpopular with voters.

Members of Congress, most of whom are Democrats, repeatedly voted in favor of resolutions calling on Trump to end the conflict unless he obtained the support of Congress, but these resolutions did not lead to a cessation of hostilities.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said today, Tuesday (September 15, 2026), that more than 100,000 people have been internally displaced as a result of the renewed conflict in Yemen, while thousands more have fled by sea to Djibouti.

The Commission reported that "the rapid escalation of hostilities along the western coast of Yemen caused the displacement of more than 100,000 people inside the country, and prompted thousands of others to seek refuge in Djibouti, on the other end of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait."

The recent battles between the Iran-backed Houthis and the internationally recognized Yemeni government forces backed by Saudi Arabia resulted in the death of hundreds of people, the majority of whom were fighters, according to what sources from both sides of the conflict reported.

The UNHCR expressed its fear of "a new displacement of residents inside Yemen, and other movements of refugees, in the event of an escalation in hostilities." During the past four days, UNHCR counted more than 2,400 people crossing the Red Sea from Yemen to Djibouti, explaining that "more than 60 percent of them are women and children."

UNHCR representative in Djibouti, Sandrine Desamours, said, "These people arrive after a difficult sea crossing, very exhausted... and they carry little of what they were able to take with them."

The Commission warned of the urgent need to provide “shelter, food, drinking water, health care and protection” as “host communities and shelters reach the peak of their absorptive capacity.”

The UNHCR added that humanitarian operations are hampered by "insecurity, damaged roads, communications disruptions, and movement restrictions, especially along the western coast."

She warned that the escalation of fighting could have an “impact on global humanitarian logistics services, which are already under severe pressure due to the ongoing unrest around the Strait of Hormuz,” which is practically closed as a result of the war in the Middle East.

She pointed out that "any new deterioration in the situation may force a detour through the Cape of Good Hope, which will extend the delivery time for shipments from 25 to 30 days."

Oil prices rose slightly today, Tuesday (September 15, 2026), after attacks by the Houthis, allied with Iran, on energy infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, raising concerns that it will take longer to repair damage to energy infrastructure and transportation routes.

Saudi Arabia, the largest crude oil exporter in the world, closed its east-west pipeline due to an attack targeting it last week, and is facing challenges from Houthi attacks in Yemen in the Red Sea region and continued shipping disturbances in the Strait of Hormuz.

Reuters quoted three sources as saying that Saudi Arabia informed its European customers of the cancellation of some crude oil shipments scheduled to be loaded in late September.

Sources in the shipping sector told Reuters today that oil loading had been suspended at the Saudi port of Yanbu on the Red Sea, due to an attack launched by the Houthi group, but Saudi Aramco declined to comment.

Iran war pushes wholesale prices in Germany higher

In Germany, wholesale prices rose last August at their strongest pace in three and a half years.

The Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden announced on Tuesday that prices rose by 6.8 percent compared to the same month last year.

The last increase exceeding that in one year was recorded in February 2023, when it reached 9.5 percent. The office explained, "War operations in Iran and the Middle East are still the decisive factor behind the rise in prices in August 2026, as they led to an increase in the prices of energy products and raw materials in wholesale trade in particular."

A report by the Pentagon Inspector General estimates that the US operation against Iran, between February 28 and June 30, cost about $33.4 billion, of which $22.3 billion was spent on munitions alone. The report stated that "the consumption of ammunition during Operation Epic Rage caused a shortage in strategic stocks, and revealed obstacles in the industry sector that hinder the replenishment of ammunition stocks." But at the same time, the report refers to the measures taken by the Ministry to accelerate the pace of production.

When press reports reported in June that the United States was imposing restrictions on the use of its missiles, especially interceptor missiles, the government denied this and Trump asserted that the country possessed “enormous amounts of ammunition.” At the beginning of September, the US President was still insisting that the United States possessed “unlimited quantities of ammunition.” According to the press, this lack of ammunition prompted Donald Trump not to renew large-scale attacks against Tehran during the summer. The Pentagon report stated: “Despite the extensive use of interceptor missiles, Iranian strikes damaged and destroyed hundreds of buildings and facilities at American bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, and Jordan.”

US President Donald Trump reiterated on Monday (September 14, 2026) his “openness” to dealing with Iran with the aim of putting an end to the war with it.

The US President wrote on his platform, Truth Social, “The failed Iranian nation wants to reach an agreement, quickly and urgently. I will decide whether the United States chooses to engage in that or not, which is something we are open to.”

Trump's statements came after Gulf countries postponed a scheduled meeting with Iran after the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen launched a new attack on Saudi Arabia, highlighting fears about the possibility of the conflict spreading to the region.

An Iranian nuclear official was prevented from attending a meeting in Vienna

On the other hand, Iran denounced preventing the head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Islami, from entering Austria to participate in the general conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright confirmed that Washington rejected Islami's request to obtain an exemption from the sanctions imposed on him, and to obtain a visa to enter Austria.

The Austrian Foreign Ministry told Agence France-Presse that the relevant committee in the Security Council rejected his request to grant him an exemption.

Iranian television reported that Eslami and his delegation took a regular flight to Vienna on Saturday, but were intercepted on the way “due to obstacles placed by the United States,” noting that the Iranian official returned to Tehran on the same day.

Tehran summoned the Austrian Chargé d'Affairs in protest against this decision. Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Baghaei considered that Vienna’s refusal to issue visas to the Iranian delegation was “a completely unjustified decision.” He added, "It is clear to us that this incident occurred under American pressure, but that does not absolve the Austrian government of responsibility."

In late September of last year, Britain, France, and Germany activated the “snapback/trigger” mechanism stipulated in the international agreement concluded on the Iranian nuclear issue in 2015, which led to the re-imposition of UN sanctions that had been suspended under the agreement, against the backdrop of accusing Tehran of not fulfilling its obligations.

US President Donald Trump ignored a report that Iran obtained satellite images of a base in Jordan from Chinese entities before an attack that killed three American soldiers there in July. A recent report in the Wall Street Journal cited unnamed US officials regarding the attack in Jordan. When asked whether he would address this issue in his upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump did not respond directly, but instead equated China's surveillance activities with those of the United States.

He told reporters on Air Force One, "They are basically doing what we do. And when they say that China is spying on us, I tell them: You are right, and we are spying on them, too." The Chinese and US presidents are expected to meet in the United States on September 24, although China has not yet officially confirmed that the meeting will take place. Yesterday, Sunday, Trump reiterated that he has a good relationship with his Chinese counterpart. The Wall Street Journal report, which Reuters has not yet been able to verify, stated that US officials “refused to reveal the identity of the Chinese entities that provided Iran with the images, and did not claim” direct Beijing involvement.