Trump says the Iran war costs ‘very little’ and Venezuela paid it back ‘by 10 times’

Donald Trump has gone over the Iran war bill and decided it’s a bargain.

Asked in the Oval Office on Friday whether more talks with Iran are happening, Trump said Iran keeps talking and “we have time.” It’s a war, he said, though not a typical one, and “we’ve been there for seven months.” The US is spending “very little,” he said, “relatively speaking.” Anyway, he said, any money spent has been “more than made up for” in Venezuela, like “by 10 times.” He then turned to Rep. Ro Khanna, “who’s a lightweight,” for complaining about the cost. Trump said he spent the money “to get rid of a nuclear weapon,” and that the US has taken in “hundreds of billions of dollars” in Venezuela. “But they don’t mention these things,” he said.

Somebody mentioned them. CENTCOM’s latest estimate to lawmakers, per CBS, puts the war’s cost at at least $47.1 billion as of mid-October, about $29 billion of it for replacing munitions. The Congressional Budget Office said it could cost $2 billion to $3 billion a month for as long as it lasts. CBS also says the war enters its ninth month this week. By our math, 28 February, when Reuters reported the US and Israel launched their attack, to 30 October is eight months, not seven.

On the other side of the ledger, the Financial Times calculated in July that the administration had collected more than $13 billion from Venezuelan oil sales this year. The Venezuelan government’s own tracker showed a single $300 million transfer. By our math, “10 times” $47.1 billion is $471 billion. Those are his numbers, and he didn’t show his math.