You can ignore Trump’s threats to leave NATO: Pimco says they’re a ‘paper tiger’

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The cost of the Iran war so far: up to $200 billion.

Pimco: Ignore Trump’s threats to leave NATO. Not gonna happen.

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Accounting for the war: $200 billion burned so far

On Monday, the Department of Defense told senators it needed an additional $80 billion to cover the cost of the U.S. war against Iran, just weeks after warning that the military could potentially run out of money should Congress not pass a new spending bill, Fortune’s Jacqueline Munis reports. But what is the total bill so far?

Experts differ. On May 12, Acting Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst III told the House Armed Services Committee that the war had cost $29 billion. Despite the six weeks that have passed, the Pentagon referred Fortune back to Hurst’s testimony when asked for an updated estimate this week. 

That’s probably an underestimation. According to Moody’s Analytics, the war has cost U.S. taxpayers and consumers at least $132 billion so far.

Given that the early days of the conflict cost $1 billion per day, Linda Bilmes, a Harvard Kennedy School senior public policy lecturer and a federal budget expert, said spending is more likely to total the $200 billion in additional funds the Pentagon requested back in March.

Pimco says Trump’s threats to leave NATO are a “paper tiger”

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte will be in Washington this week, risking the wrath of President Trump, who hates the transatlantic military alliance because it “wasn’t there when we needed them” for Iran. Trump has more than once floated the idea of bailing on NATO. Don’t expect it to happen, Pimco Head of Public Policy Libby Cantrill told clients recently.

What most people forget is that in 2024 Congress passed a law banning the president from unilaterally quitting NATO without a 60-vote Senate majority or a change in the law. (The person least likely to say this out loud........

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