'The war in Iran has already cost $22.8 billion': Bernie Sanders questions Trump's spending priorities

As Operation Epic Fury continued through its third week, Senator Bernie Sanders took to social media on Tuesday to strongly criticize the Iran conflict, arguing that the billions spent on the war could instead have been used to better the lives of American citizens. "The war in Iran has already cost $22.8 billion," Sanders said, saying that the amount could instead "provide Medicaid to 6.8 million kids," build 2.6 million public housing units, fund Head Start for 1.3 million children, hire 240,000 teachers, or cancel $20,000 in student debt for 1 million borrowers.

Since the start of the military operation against Iran on February 28, Sanders has constantly taken to social media to question President Donald Trump and his administration's priorities, accusing Israel of dragging the U.S. into an unnecessary war. "It's not just Iran. It's Lebanon. In less than 2 weeks, Israel has killed 570 people and displaced 750,000 — over 10% of the entire country…The U.S. cannot continue to be complicit in Netanyahu's wars," he had stated in an earlier social media post.

Sanders isn't alone in this critique. Other Democrats have used the $22.8 billion figure to highlight what they call a "double standard" in federal spending. Lawmakers like Hakeem Jeffries and Adam Schiff have questioned the administration over refusing to lower the cost of groceries and healthcare while managing to find billions to fund a new war in the Middle East that, in turn, is leading to higher gas prices. "Republicans are spending billions of your taxpayer dollars to drop bombs in the Middle East. This, after the GOP enacted the largest cut to Medicaid in American history," Jeffries wrote in a social media post.

Last week, Pentagon officials reportedly said in a closed meeting that the first week of the war alone cost the U.S. over $11.3 billion. While Democrats continue to call the Iran conflict "a war of choice," GOP lawmakers have accused the Democrats of undermining the country's national security. President Trump has time and again reiterated that Iran would've struck U.S. assets if they did not attack first. Remember, for all of those absolute "fools" out there, Iran is considered, by everyone, to be the NUMBER ONE STATE SPONSOR OF TERROR. We are rapidly putting them out of business!" Trump wrote in a recent social media post.

Despite the U.S. and Israel successfully eliminating Iran's top leadership, including Iran's second Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei, and more recently, Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmaeil Khatib, Iran has refused to ease their blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a global energy chokepoint. Trump, who has unsuccessfully been trying to rally allies in helping open the Strait, has repeatedly said that its closure does not impact the U.S. as much as it does other countries. In a separate Truth Social post, Trump wrote, "I wonder what would happen if we "finished off" what's left of the Iranian Terror State, and let the Countries that use it, we don't, be responsible for the so called "Strait?" That would get some of our non-responsive "Allies" in gear, and fast!!!"