On April 29, 2026, Acting Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst III told the House Armed Services Committee that the U.S. has spent an estimated $25 billion on the war in Iran, and that the bill was still coming. The money has mostly been spent munitions: not hospitals, not water, munitions. Not schools. Not hospitals. Not water. Munitions.
For many in the United States and around the world, already reeling from the financial toll of war, those numbers mean something specific. Here is what $25 billion could have achieved instead.
1. Feed the hungry for one year, with room left over to save them from future famine:
It takes about $16.9 billion dollars to feed the 123 million most vulnerable people, according to the UN World Food Program and $25 billion would feed the world’s hungry for a whole year, leaving around $8 billion dollars to build up their reserves against future famine.
2. Pay off student debt for over 630,000 graduates:
Today’s average U.S. federal student loan debt sits at around $39,633. This means $25 billion dollars would cover student debt for more than 630,000 debtors, many of them Black, Latino and other non-Whites whose earning potential is held back by their loans.
3. Fill out endowments of every HBCU almost 10 times over:
According to the College Transparency Act, the total amount of money in the endowment funds of every Historically Black College and University in America amounts to around $2.6 billion and $25 billion would fund HBCUs’ endowments almost 10 times over.
4. Provide access to safe water to almost 500 million people:
The annual cost of ensuring universal access to clean drinking water is estimated at $114 billion. Two months’ worth of that funding would enable almost 500 million people to gain access to safe drinking water and protection from water-related diseases.
5. Hire almost 400,000 teachers for a year:
The median salary of teachers in U.S. public schools stands at approximately $65,000 per year and $25 billion would hire almost 400,000 of those teachers, reducing class sizes and expanding educational resources for millions of students.
6. Build over 60,000 American homes:
Twenty-five billion dollars ($25 billion) is currently enough to build or renovate 60,000 homes, based on the median housing price in the U.S. This could mean that the affordable housing crises in Baltimore, Detroit, and New Orleans could become a thing of the past.
While the Pentagon calls $25 billion dollars the cost of war, the poor and marginalized in the U.S. could call it something else: the price and expense of their hunger, homelessness, and their children’s future.
—Nisa Islam Muhammad, Staff Writer