U.S. Iran war costs climb to $47.1 billion
A useful thing that the OBR might do but which the government probably can’t: a nice long section clarifying the costs of the Iran war on the British economy and public finances.
The executive summary of the 120 page report being "Oh, fuck!"
But we can estimate it. So far is £10 billion in extra petrol cost which went straight to oil producing countries instead of going into the U.K. economy.
The useful bit would be separating direct military spending from second-round costs: energy, shipping and weaker trade. Those are the channels that turn a foreign conflict into pressure on living standards and the fiscal arithmetic.
Iran war costs rise to $47.1 billion, Pentagon told Congress -- up by about $3.5 billion in roughly six weeks www.nytimes.com/2026/10/27/u...
The party of fiscal responsibility
For context, so far $16B has been spent on building high-speed rail in California (only a tiny bit of it federal money). You can see the 119 miles of so of what they've built here www.instagram.com/p/DeKqNU2Ss4g/ (not pictured, helping electrify Caltrain)