Trump allocated a billion dollars for the forces against Iran. The most expensive is waiting

It’s been almost six weeks since the US president asked protesters in Iran to continue protesting because “help is on the way”. During this period, the US military stretched its forces to achieve the maximum readiness of its forces in the region. The mentioned six weeks already cost a lot of money not only to the USA, but also to Israel, which is playing this waiting game together with the Americans.

According to the newspaper Haarec, one day of operation of one aircraft carrier costs approximately ten million dollars (205 million crowns). For two aircraft carriers – the USS Gerald R. Ford and the USS Abraham Lincoln – with an escort of dozens of vessels, including destroyers, the daily costs are in the order of tens of millions of dollars.

With such costs, according to the letter, it will be difficult for Trump to give up on striking Iran without being able to declare it a “great success”. The alternative would then be a “great agreement”, but it does not seem to be coming to that yet. While the United States demands that Iran give up not only its nuclear but also its ballistic program and its support for Shiite armed groups in the Middle East, Tehran intends to talk only about certain parts of its nuclear ambitions, which it claims are aimed only at the civilian use of the atom.

“On an aircraft carrier like the Gerald Ford, 5,000 people get paid, and in the current situation you don’t operate it like it does when it’s in home port. On top of that you have to add the cost of the necessary pilot flight hours,” Pini Jungman, president of TSG Group, a defense technology firm that develops air defense systems for Israel’s defense ministry, said of the “waiting costs.”

Also in Israel, representatives of the Ministry of Defense are demanding an increase in the budget for “waiting for a strike”. At the very least, they are concerned with additional costs for staffing and maintenance of radar and missile systems.

According to the former commander of the Israeli air defense Rana Kochav, there is a big difference between the current situation and the situation 12 days before the attacks on Iran in June of last year. Considering that Israel struck first, the costs of preparation and waiting were significantly lower, according to him.

At the same time, Kochav warned against underestimating Iran’s combat capabilities. “I think they have a good air defense. Eight months have passed and they have revived it,” he said, referring to the June battle.

Yehošuy Kaliský from the Institute for the Study of National Security in Tel Aviv, it is also possible that the Iranians have improved their missiles. “They could also add faster and heavier rockets,” he said.

The largest aircraft carrier in the world, the American USS Gerald R. Ford, will be off the coast of Israel in less than 24 hours. In the region, she and her escort will join the second aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln. The last time the United States was in the Middle East was in June 2025, when it attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities together with Israel.