CSIS calculated that Operation Epic Fury costs the United States nearly $900 million per day 1 — consistent with the centre's earlier estimate of $16.5 billion over the war's first 12 days . The daily rate has stabilised as initial deployment surges give way to sustained operational expenditure: munitions, fuel, air defence interceptors, and force protection across a theatre from the eastern Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies described the conflict as at risk of becoming a "battle of endurance" 2. Israel entered with depleted interceptor stocks from the Twelve-Day War ; Arrow and David's Sling rounds cost $2–3 million each, and at Iran's firing rate of seven salvos in a single night, Israel's NIS 2.6 billion emergency procurement buys time but not resolution. The IRGC's claim that most missiles fired were produced "a decade ago" — if true — implies newer stocks remain in reserve. Endurance favours the side that can sustain expenditure relative to its resources — a different calculus for a $28 trillion economy burning $900 million a day than for a $400 billion economy absorbing infrastructure destruction it cannot quickly replace.
Chatham House assessed that if fighting persists for months, Brent Crude could reach $130 per barrel and the Eurozone would "probably" contract in Q2 3. Brent closed at $100.21 on 17 March — 49% above the pre-war $67.41, with Gulf production down at least 10 million barrels per day in what the IEA called "the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market" . US diesel has hit $5 per gallon, up 34% since 28 February, and gasoline $3.79 — prices that feed directly into household budgets and freight costs before second-order inflation effects propagate through supply chains.
