Trump Wants Arab Countries To Pay For War Against Iran
- 31.03.2026, 13:37
Similar to Operation Desert Storm in 1990-1991.
Donald Trump may ask Arab countries to cover U.S. spending on the war against Iran, the White House said. Those costs already total tens of billions of dollars, and the president has asked Congress for an additional $200 billion.
Trump's press secretary Caroline Leavitt responded Monday to a question from reporters about whether Arab nations should pay for the current war - similar to Operation Desert Storm in 1990-1991, when U.S. allies helped fund the liberation of Kuwait by a multinational force led by U.S. troops from Iraq. "I think the president would be very interested in asking them to do that," Leavitt was quoted as saying by Al Jazeera. - I wouldn't want to get ahead of him on that, but certainly I know he has that idea, and I assume you'll hear more from him about it."
Pentagon officials informed Congress that the cost of the operation against Iran totaled $11.3 billion in the first six days. The Center for Strategic and Defense Studies estimated it reached $16.5 billion in the first 12 days of the war. Based on the latter figure, a day of war costs the U.S. an average of $1.38 billion, although due to differences in the intensity of the fighting, the number and power of the weapons used, and the scale of the forces involved, this figure can vary considerably.
Trump, meanwhile, has asked Congress for an additional $200 billion for the military campaign and to replenish the ammunition spent during it.
The Gulf War 35 years ago, countries in the region and coalition members, including Germany and Japan, raised $54 billion to help pay for U.S. participation (in today's money, that's about $134 billion). Back then, however, the coalition had a UN mandate and had to liberate Kuwait from invading Iraqi troops. Now the U.S. and Israel, without anyone else's support, have single-handedly launched a military operation against Iran.
The issue of payments for the war has come up several times during the current campaign. Right-wing commentator Sean Hannity, close to Trump, has said Iran should reimburse the US for the cost of the military operation against it with its oil. For its part, Tehran has cited reparations, which the US should pay for the destruction caused to it, as among the conditions for ending the war.
The Gulf states are themselves suffering significant losses due to the war and Iranian missile and drone attacks. For example, just repairing two damaged production lines at the world's largest liquefied natural gas complex would cost $26 billion and take three to five years, Saad al-Qaabi, QatarEnergy's CEO and Qatar's energy minister, told Reuters.