A Bloomberg report highlighted the escalating cost of US military interventions abroad in recent years, amid Washington's continued threats of a military strike against Iran. The report states that the total bill for wars and military operations financed by the US through borrowing could reach nearly $8 trillion, a burden borne by American taxpayers in the long run.
The report draws a historical parallel with former President Franklin Roosevelt's approach during World War II, when he emphasized funding the war effort through taxes to avoid burdening future generations with debt. According to Bloomberg, the United States has now shifted to a different model, relying heavily on borrowing to finance foreign military interventions.
According to analyses cited by Bloomberg, the recent US military deployment off the coast of Venezuela is costing approximately $31 million per day, involving more than 15,000 troops and an aircraft carrier strike group including destroyers, cruisers, and fighter jets. If this level of deployment continues in that region of the Caribbean Sea, the annual cost could exceed $11 billion.
The Cost of Striking Iran and Annexing Greenland
In the Middle East, Washington has bolstered its military presence near Iran by deploying an additional aircraft carrier strike group, at an estimated cost of $8 million per day, or $2.9 billion annually. This is in addition to at least $2 billion already spent on military operations against Iran and its allies by June 2025, according to estimates by Brown University’s Costs of War project.
The report also highlighted the controversy surrounding the idea of imposing US control over Greenland, a Danish territory. Internal assessments, as reported by US media, estimated the potential cost of the acquisition at up to $700 billion, nearly three-quarters of the US Department of Defense budget, not to mention the long-term commitments to managing Greenland’s affairs, economy, and security.
The legacy of the Iraq invasion grows.
The Iraqi experience exemplifies the gap between initial estimates of the cost of American wars worldwide. In 2003, the US estimated its expenses for the invasion of Iraq at around $50 billion, but the actual costs later rose to approximately $4.5 trillion, according to academic calculations. When including healthcare expenses for veterans and servicing the national debt associated with financing the war, the total cost reaches approximately $8 trillion.
This coincides with a significant surge in US sovereign debt, which has risen from $3.7 trillion, or about 33% of GDP, at the start of the Iraq War, to over $38.5 trillion by the end of 2025, representing 122% of the size of the US economy.
According to the report, the cost is not limited to direct military spending but extends to broader financial repercussions. For decades, the United States has benefited from the safe-haven status of Treasury bonds, allowing it to borrow at relatively low costs. However, escalating geopolitical tensions may prompt some investors to reassess their investments in US assets, especially given the dollar's decline over the past year.
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