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As the Iran War drags on, President Trump has repeatedly belittled the economic impact of the conflict on Americans.
Last week, Trump was asked by a reporter to what extent he considers “Americans’ financial situations” while negotiating with Iran. “Not even a little bit,” Trump responded. “The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran, they can’t have a nuclear weapon. I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody.”
Trump doubled down on the comment later last week. In an interview with Fox News, Trump said, “That’s a perfect statement. I’d make it again.” Trump went on to say that it was worth having “to pay a little more, not that much more, a little more for gasoline, for a very short period of time” to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
On Tuesday, Trump said that high gas prices amounted to “peanuts.”
But according to The Iran War Energy Cost Tracker at Brown University, the Iran War has caused Americans to spend an additional $43.6 billion on fuel costs so far.
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For that price, Americans could buy 14.5 billion pounds of peanuts, which is more than twice the amount produced annually in the United States.
The tracker, which compares actual prices to an estimate of prices without the war, estimates that each U.S. household has paid an extra $331 across both gasoline and diesel. So the equivalent of each household buying 110 pounds of peanuts.
Americans have spent an additional $184 per U.S. household on just gasoline because of the war, according to the tracker. In some states, the total extra cost is over $250, including Utah ($261.78 per household), Alabama ($274.94 per household), and Wyoming ($258.79 per household).
The higher fuel costs are in addition to the direct cost of the war. A cost estimate of the Iran War conducted by Stephen Semler for Popular Information found that the U.S. spent an estimated $71.8 billion through the first 60 days of the conflict. This cost also ultimately falls to the American taxpayer.
