Economist Mark Zandi on Monday shared his estimates of the Iran war's impact on ordinary Americans, warning that high energy costs, as well as military spending and high interest rates, were among the biggest contributing factors to higher spending.

Mark Zandi Outlines Iran War Toll on America's Bills

In a thread on the social media platform X, Zandi said that his calculations suggested that American household costs had ballooned to nearly $2,000 since the Iran war kicked off in February. "Nationwide, that adds up to $265 billion," Zandi said in the thread, citing data from Moody's Analytics.

Energy Costs Soar

In the same thread, "higher energy prices" were the biggest contributing factor to household spending. "A gallon of regular goes for $4.37, up from just under $3 before the war. Diesel is above $6, and jet fuel has nearly doubled," Zandi said. He added that home heating fuel prices were adding to the costs.

It's worth noting that the national average price of gas fell by 40 cents on Monday, but GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan warned that the decline may not last.

"Altogether, that comes to close to $1,100 per household, paid at the pump and in the higher cost of everything that moves by truck or plane," Zandi said. He added that the Energy tab continued to add $50 per week at current fuel costs.

Last week, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) warned that the war in Iran was contributing to higher energy bills for ordinary Americans. The Kentucky Senator also said that climate mandates added to the costs.

Fed Rate Hike

"The war's inflation contributed to the Fed's decision last month to raise rates and signal that more rate increases are coming," Zandi said in the thread, following the Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's decision to hike the interest rates by 25 basis points to 3.75% to 4.00%.

Mortgage costs had surged to 7.5% following the decision to hike rates. "By our reckoning, the higher rates have cost the economy about $540 per household," he said.

Military Spending

Zandi also pointed to the military costs adding $360 per household. "The war's costs taken together have absorbed about half the average American household's income gain over the past eight months," he said, adding that these factors combined illustrated why the war was unpopular among people.

Notably, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, in August, pushed for Congress to approve a historic $1.5 trillion military spending budget, as the Secretary said that the Iran war had added over $37 billion in additional costs back in July.