By Mariem Bah, Stephen Quillen and Rached El-Moctar
Pentagon puts Iran war price tag at $47bn for US taxpayers, but is that the true cost
By Priyanka Shankar
The Pentagon has told US lawmakers that the war on Iran has cost American taxpayers at least $47.1bn so far.
The estimate, disclosed last week, comes days before Tuesday’s midterm elections, which will determine if President Donald Trump’s Republican Party will maintain control of Congress for the next two years.
John Phillips, a British safety, security and risk adviser and a former military chief instructor, told Al Jazeera that the Pentagon’s $47.1bn estimate should be treated as a running total and not the total cost of the war.
“If the war continues without a durable outcome, the US risks paying repeatedly to sustain military pressure while simultaneously trying to rebuild the capability it has consumed,” he said.
Houthis say they launched six strikes on Saudi Arabian airports and energy sites
Iran-backed Houthi forces have claimed a total of six attacks on airports and oil facilities across Saudi Arabia despite a rare meeting of Saudi and Iranian senior officials in Tehran earlier this week after which the two sides agreed to resolve differences in the region through dialogue.
Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan all sent high-level representatives to the meeting but despite the positive statements, Houthi forces continue to launch missiles and drones at the kingdom and Saudi-backed forces inside Yemen.
Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a statement posted on X that the attacks targeted vital commercial and military infrastructure which spanned Saudi Arabia from its east and west coasts to Riyadh and the southern region of Najran.
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Here are some of the latest developments:
Iranian lawmaker urges supreme leader to authorise atomic bomb development
Iranian lawmaker Mahmoud Nabavian says he has called for Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei to authorise the development of an atomic bomb.
In a post on X, Nabavian said he had raised the proposal during a gathering in the city of Qom, reporting that it was met with expressions of approval from the crowd.
His remarks come amid growing calls from several Iranian lawmakers to reconsider the country’s longstanding position against developing nuclear weapons.
Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei issued a religious decree prohibiting nuclear weapons, while Tehran has consistently maintained that its nuclear programme is intended purely for peaceful purposes.
However, during a September interview with Al Jazeera, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei said Tehran remained committed to the ruling and had not changed its nuclear doctrine, before adding: “But we do not know what will happen in the future.”
Saudi coalition downs Houthi drone in Mecca region
The Saudi-led coalition says it has intercepted and destroyed a Houthi drone over the Mecca region.
Conservative podcaster accuses US envoy of ignoring settler attack on American
Conservative US podcaster Tucker Carlson has released previously unseen video footage that he says shows masked Israeli settlers beating an elderly American man with sticks in the occupied West Bank, before pouring petrol over his family’s car and setting it on fire.
During an episode of The Tucker Carlson Show, Carlson said the man was beaten “almost to death” and claimed the attackers acted with the impunity settlers enjoy in the occupied territory.
Carlson directly addressed US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on X, asserting that the victim had approached him for assistance and was “blown off”.
“That’s disgraceful. Do your job,” Carlson wrote.
Huckabee rejected the accusation, writing on X: “Tucker Carlson is deranged. He accuses me personally of ignoring a US citizen allegedly attacked in Judea/Samaria by Israelis & says I ‘blew him off.'”
Carlson added that the family member who filmed the attack withdrew from appearing on his show, citing fears that revealing his identity could endanger relatives still living in the town.
UKMTO says tanker attacked with explosive devices in Strait of Hormuz, crew safe
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) says a tanker has been attacked with explosive devices in the Strait of Hormuz, though its crew members remain safe.
In an update to an earlier warning concerning a vessel on fire roughly 25 nautical miles northeast of Khasab, Oman, UKMTO reported that a small boat had approached the tanker on its port side and attached two explosive devices to the hull above the waterline.
The subsequent explosions caused a fire in the engine room, temporarily disabling the vessel.
UKMTO said that crew members extinguished the blaze and the tanker resumed its journey towards its next port of call.
The agency added that there was no environmental damage resulting from the incident. Authorities were investigating the attack, while vessels transiting the area were advised to exercise caution and report any suspicious activity.
Oil prices rise above $115 as Houthi attacks fuel supply fears
Oil prices have risen in early Friday trading amid growing concerns over supply disruptions following renewed Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia’s energy infrastructure and rising tensions in the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude futures climbed 86 cents, or 0.75 percent, to $115.74 a barrel as of 01:22 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 72 cents, or 0.71 percent, to $102.72. Both benchmarks were heading for a fourth consecutive monthly gain, with Brent on track to rise nearly 14 percent in October and WTI about 15 percent.
The price increases followed claims by Yemen’s Houthi forces that they had targeted several Saudi energy facilities, including the Ras Tanura and Rabigh refineries alongside an Aramco site in Abqaiq.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed three tankers “struck sea mines and caught fire” while attempting to use an unauthorised route south of the Strait of Hormuz.
US Treasury chief claims Iran struggling to pay troops as sanctions tighten
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says Iran is running out of economic lifelines and struggling to fund its armed forces as Washington intensifies sanctions pressure on Tehran.
In a post on X, Bessent said that under Operation Economic Outcast, “Iran’s regime is running out of lifelines, and its proxies are feeling the pressure”. He added that Tehran was struggling to move money, while the IRGC was “reportedly failing to pay its own troops”.
Bessent added that Washington was “cutting the regime’s ability to fund the Houthis, Hamas, and Hezbollah”, asserting that the US would “not allow Tehran to continue financing their campaign of terror”.
Saudi Arabia, Spain review security cooperation after Houthi attacks
Saudi Arabia’s Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud has reviewed defence cooperation and regional security in a phone call with Spain’s Defence Minister Margarita Robles.
In a post on X, the Saudi defence minister said the two officials discussed “ways to strengthen the Saudi-Spanish relations”. He added that they “explored regional developments after the Houthi terrorist attacks on the Kingdom and efforts to promote security and stability”.
Vance says Trump will not allow Iran conflict to become ‘forever war’
US Vice President JD Vance says President Donald Trump will not allow the conflict with Iran to become a “forever war”, defending the administration’s military campaign despite criticism of its involvement in the Middle East.
Speaking during a Fox News town hall in Fort Worth, Texas, Vance was responding to a Republican voter who questioned whether the administration had fulfilled its promise to end costly foreign wars.
“I understand the frustration about foreign misadventures in the Middle East,” Vance said, recalling his own military service in Iraq.
“We’ve been involved in Iran in some form for seven months. The United States has been dealing with Iran for 47 years, and I promise you that Donald Trump is not going to let Iran become a forever war,” he added.
Vance argued that opposing prolonged military interventions did not mean rejecting the use of military force altogether.
“He’s [Trump] going to accomplish America’s objectives,” Vance said, adding that the administration would then focus on its other priorities.
US envoy says Iran must provide answers to IAEA, not ‘speeches’
US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz says Iran must cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) rather than blame other countries for its failure to meet nuclear inspection obligations.
Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting, Waltz accused Tehran of failing to provide the information and access requested by the nuclear watchdog.
“Your lies are no good here,” Waltz told the council, addressing the Iranian delegation directly and adding that the US and its partners would never allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.
He said IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi had asked Iran for “answers, not speeches”.
However, Grossi told the same meeting that military attacks in June 2025 had forced the agency to suspend inspections and withdraw its personnel from Iran for safety reasons.
Grossi said Tehran had previously agreed to allow inspectors into its Isfahan enrichment facility, but “the commencement of the attacks prevented our inspector from going to the site”.
He added that since June 2025, “we have not identified any activity to repair or reconstruct” nuclear facilities damaged in the 2025 and 2026 attacks, although physical inspections remained necessary to establish their condition.
Palestinians see Eisenkot government as ‘less evil’ option, says Adalah founder
Any government other than Benjamin Netanyahu’s is preferable, said Hassan Jabareen, founder and general director of Adalah, calling a coalition led by Gadi Eisenkot “the less evil one that we have available”.
Adalah, The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, is an independent human rights organisation and legal centre.
“If we count the votes, it’s clear that Gadi Eisenkot won this election,” Jabareen told Al Jazeera. He said Eisenkot’s bloc, together with the Arab-led parties, has 67 seats to Netanyahu’s 53, or about 56 percent of the seats, “meaning Eisenkot should compose and form his government”.
However, Jabareen said that “because we are speaking about a racist country, one of the states that excludes its minorities,” it is difficult for Eisenkot’s allies to state openly that they can govern with Arab-led parties. He expressed hope that the issue would be resolved through Eisenkot’s willingness to form a government.
“Palestinians don’t want a government that will continue their occupation. They don’t want to govern with people who discriminate against them,” Jabareen said. “By far this isn’t their dream government either.”
He described the choice as one between “a criminal-led government” and one “that will probably continue the occupation and discriminate against us, but at least it’s not Netanyahu.”
After four years under Netanyahu’s rule, he added, “we prefer any other government.”
Iran’s UN envoy calls US blockade ‘collective punishment’
Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Amir-Saeid Iravani, says Washington and its supporters are responsible for the insecurity in the Strait of Hormuz and the disruption to regional shipping, according to Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB.
Speaking to the UN Security Council, Iravani said the US naval blockade of Iran violates the UN Charter and threatens civilians’ access to food, medicine, fuel and other essential goods. He added that the measures amount to “collective punishment” against the Iranian people.
The US has said its blockade is effective and that no Iranian ship has been able to cross the strait.
Iran accuses UN human rights mechanism of ‘whitewashing’ US-Israeli attacks
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei accuses the UN’s human rights mechanism on Iran of attempting to “whitewash aggression, atrocities, and unilateral coercive measures”.
In a post on X, Baghaei described the mandate of UN Special Rapporteur Mai Sato as a “politically motivated” measure “imposed on the Human Rights Council by the UK,” adding that exploiting the role to blame Tehran for US and Israeli crimes was “deeply misleading and profoundly disingenuous”.
The spokesman’s comments followed Sato’s report to the UN General Assembly, which noted that while US and Israeli military actions compounded the suffering of Iranians, authorities in Tehran used the regional conflict to intensify their crackdown on dissent through arrests and executions.
Israel’s demolitions in the occupied northern West Bank
UKMTO reports vessel on fire off coast of Oman
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) says it has received a report of a vessel on fire in the Strait of Hormuz, about 25 nautical miles northeast of Khasab, Oman.
In a warning posted on X, UKMTO said a third party had reported that the vessel was on fire while travelling outbound through the strait.
The cause of the fire remains unknown, while the condition of the crew, the extent of damage and any potential environmental impact have yet to be established.
UKMTO advised vessels to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity, as authorities investigate the incident.
Mr.BadGuy
Publisher
Mr.BadGuy
Publisher
These soldiers are from a country whose president is a Jew Zelensky. Orthodox churches are also being destroyed in this country. Synagogues are not touched. Surprisingly, it turns out that Jews get along well with the Bandera Nazis.