Trump ‘interested’ in asking Arab countries to help pay for US-Israeli war with Iran: White House

Washington: US President Donald Trump “would be quite interested” in calling on Arab countries to help pay for the costs related to the ongoing US-Israeli war against Iran, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

“I won’t get ahead of him (Trump) on that,” Leavitt said at a White House press briefing. “But certainly it’s an idea that I know that he has and something that I think you’ll hear more from him on.”

Pentagon officials told the US Congress earlier this month that the Trump administration spent more than $11.3 billion in the first six days of its war against Iran, Xinhua news agency reported.

The figure does not include battle damage and replacement of losses, which likely costs the Pentagon roughly $1.4 billion to $ 2.9 billion over the first three weeks of the war, according to a Wall Street Journal report, quoting Elaine McCusker, former Pentagon budget official who has been tracking the cost for the American Enterprise Institute.

The White House is seeking at least $200 billion in additional military spending from Congress to help fund the military campaign in Iran and replenish the Pentagon’s munition stockpiles.

Leavitt also reiterated the Trump administration’s assertion that the surge in energy prices will be outweighed by the gains of weakening Iran.

“The overall message, as we repeatedly stated again: These are short-term actions and short-term price fluctuations for the long-term benefit of ending the threat that Iran poses to the United States of America, our troops and our allies in the region,” she told reporters.

During the Gulf War, the United States led a broad international coalition of dozens of countries, acting with UN backing and at the request of Kuwait and several Arab states after Iraq’s invasion. In contrast, the current conflict with Iran sees the US and Israel acting largely on their own, without a comparable coalition, formal regional support, or the same level of international legitimacy.

IANS