How much has the Iran war really cost?

Plus: How to stay safe from cyclosporiasis  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Richard Hall | July 22, 2026 Hello readers. You may have heard that the Iran war has cost the United States billions of dollars, but do you know how that money has been spent? We take a look at those numbers today. We also have some great advice from experts about how to protect yourself from cyclosporiasis, and a story about how extreme weather is changing summer camps.   Five Must-Reads New York Mayor Mamdani Admits He Can’t Arrest Netanyahu In a video posted on social media Tuesday evening, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani laid out war-crime allegations against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, before admitting that he lacked the authority to make good on a campaign promise to arrest the foreign leader when he visits the city. —TIME Nearly 100 U.S. Troops Injured in Two Weeks Since Iran War Resumed Almost 100 U.S. troops have been injured over the last two weeks since the resumption of the Iran war, the Pentagon said Monday as Washington launched its 10th consecutive evening of strikes against Tehran. The vast majority of injuries experienced were "minor concussions," it added. —TIME How to Protect Yourself Against the Cyclosporiasis Outbreak The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Sunday that a test that appeared to find Cyclospora in shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms was actually a “false positive.” While the investigation to find the source of the outbreak continues, here’s what you should know about the infections and what you can do to protect yourself. —TIME America's Summer Camps Are Facing a New Climate Reality. Here's How They're Adapting In a warming world, summer camp is not what it used to be. Summer camps around the U.S. are reckoning with how to safely prioritize outdoor play amid extreme weather—from wildfires, to record-breaking temperatures, to stronger summer storms. —TIME My Maddening Quest to Find Out if Blueberries Come From Farms Where Workers Were Harmed After reporting on the abuses suffered by farmworkers in the U.S., a ProPublica writer set out to discover whether the blueberries he is buying come from farms with a record of mistreating their staff. —ProPublica   Presented by: Free email without sacrificing your privacy Gmail tracks you. Proton doesn’t. Get private email that puts your data — and your privacy — first. Ditch the Gmail data grab   IN FOCUS The Pentagon is spending big on the Iran War. Where has the money gone? Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Caine appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday to make the case for a Pentagon request for some $67 billion in supplemental funding to cover the costs of the Iran war.  The first time the pair appeared before the committee in April, the Pentagon estimated the cost of the war at $25 billion. A few weeks later, in a separate appearance at the committee, it was approaching $29 billion. On Tuesday, Hegseth said the estimate had gone up to $37.5 billion. Democrats have grown increasingly frustrated with both the cost of the war and what they describe as the Pentagon’s lack of transparency over where taxpayers' money is going.  So, as another ceasefire appears to have broken down entirely, and costs are likely to rise even further, how much is the Pentagon actually spending on the war, and how?  The Department of Defense has not provided a detailed breakdown of its spending on the war, but some think tanks have taken on the task of creating an informed estimate of where the money has gone.  The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) published a report last month, just after the now-defunct ceasefire was signed, that estimated the war had cost somewhere between $34 billion and $42 billion.   The breakdown of those costs tells the story of the war.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, most of the money went toward munitions. CSIS estimates that $26.1 billion was spent on munitions. The vast majority of that money—$18.5 billion—was spent on air defense like Patriot missiles and THAAD interceptors, which were used to shoot down Iranian missiles and drones. Another $7.5 billion was spent on ground attack munitions like Tomahawk missiles, which are used to strike targets in Iran.    Look down the list at the next largest expense and you can see that despite spending $18 billion on air defense, Iranian attacks were able to strike U.S. bases across the Middle East, causing between $4 billion and $9.4 billion in damages. CSIS estimates that 10% of Iranian attacks penetrated the region's air defense network. Retired Colonel Mark F. Cancian, a senior adviser with the Defense and Security Department at CSIS and co-author of the report, tells TIME: “That's unusual. We have not had that kind of base damage really since the Second World War.”  “We are facing an adversary who has long-range precision missiles. When we look at the overhead surveillance, it is clear that the Iranian attacks were precise.” He says the spending in this war is very different from that in Iraq and Afghanistan because it is being driven much more by airpower, and less by putting boots on the ground.  Another difference, he adds, is that the Pentagon “has not been very transparent, particularly if you compare what they had said with the war funding for Iraq and Afghanistan, which went into a lot of detail.” The Pentagon’s request comes the same week that polls show the Iran war is the least popular American conflict since polls began, and as three more American service members have died in the latest round of fighting, bringing the death toll to 17.  In his report, Cancian says that the funding battle will be “bruising,” and “even if successful, because it will become the focus for all the antiwar sentiment across the country and in Congress, including among Republicans.”     ONE NUMBER 21% The number of vehicles on the road is going up, but the rate of traffic deaths is going down, according to new data released by the World Health Organization (WHO).  Despite one billion vehicles being added to the world’s roads, the global rate of road traffic deaths declined by 21% between 2011 and 2025, WHO said.  Still, road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5–29 years, it added. The report noted that ride-hailing and delivery apps had contributed to a tripling of the number of motorcycles on the road during the same period. Motorcyclist deaths now account for nearly a third of fatalities on the road.   SOURCE: WHO   Presented by: Wish your car insurance was pricier? Didn’t think so. Find out if another carrier could offer you a better rate. Compare your offers all in one place and get your best rate on LendingTree. Check My Quotes   A VIRAL MOMENT Bearapalooza A moment of zen here as brown bears gather at Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska to feast on migrating sockeye salmon. Brooks Falls is known for its high density of brown bears during the salmon run season, which peaks between July and September.     Linked In this addictive word-association game, find the steps that will unite two seemingly unrelated words in just four moves. 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