'This is America’s war': Iran's Foreign Minister Araghchi | Talk to Al Jazeera
"He denies targeting civilians, defends Iran’s retaliation, and warns that the US military presence across the Gulf makes escalation unavoidable.
Araghchi also signals possible new rules for navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, while rejecting a ceasefire in favour of a permanent end to the war."
Araghchi speaks good English but in this Mar 18, 2026 interview he chose his native language. Decent interpreter.
Here the answer(s) I got from AI in asking:
If US government exited all US military bases in the Middle East and Europe how much would that save American taxpayers?
According to the Quincy Institute think tank:
Exiting all U.S. military bases in Europe and the Middle East would likely save American taxpayers roughly $30–60 billion per year in direct costs, though exact figures are estimates because the Pentagon does not publish a precise regional breakdown of overseas basing expenses. This range comes from independent analyses of global overseas basing costs (primarily the Quincy Institute and similar studies), adjusted for the fact that Europe and the Middle East host a large share of U.S. overseas infrastructure and personnel. Quincy Institute
Key Data on U.S. Presence (as of 2025–2026) Europe (EUCOM): Roughly 80,000–100,000 U.S. servicemembers (permanent + rotational), with the largest concentrations in Germany (~34,500–46,000), Italy, the UK, and Poland. Total permanent active-duty around 65,000–84,000. CFR
Middle East (CENTCOM): Peacetime baseline ~40,000–50,000 troops across major hubs like Qatar (Al Udeid Air Base), Bahrain, Kuwait, and smaller sites in Jordan, UAE, etc. (Numbers fluctuate with operations; recent buildups tied to regional tensions have pushed higher temporarily.) NewsNation
Cost Breakdown and Savings Estimates
The most cited independent estimate (Quincy Institute, updated from FY2021 data and still widely referenced) puts the annual cost of building, operating, and maintaining all U.S. overseas bases worldwide at ~$55 billion (FY2021 dollars; higher today with inflation and larger budgets). Adding the extra costs of stationing personnel abroad (housing, schools for dependents, transport, allowances, etc.) brings the global total to ~$80 billion or more.
Other analyses align closely: ~$65 billion/year just for building/maintaining bases, or $94+ billion including personnel extras (updated to recent years). Overseasbases.net
Official DoD figures for “overseas operations activities” are narrower (~$28–32 billion in FY2023), but these exclude some construction and full personnel overhead. US Congress report
Total direct annual savings to taxpayers: ~$30–50 billion (conservative, basing-only) to $40–60 billion (including full personnel overhead). These are recurring savings once bases are closed and forces withdrawn—no ongoing rent, utilities, security, or overseas logistics for those sites.
Important Caveats on Net Savings
If troops are simply brought home without reducing overall U.S. force size, some costs shift to domestic bases (housing, etc.), reducing net savings to mainly the overseas-specific extras and base operations. Historical RAND and other analyses suggest the incremental overseas premium can be smaller in some cases (~$2–12 billion globally for certain posture changes), but Quincy-style full-attribution accounting (which attributes base ops directly) yields the higher figure above. RAND Corp
If presence in these regions is deemed unnecessary and force structure is downsized (as advocated by groups like Quincy or Cato in drawdown proposals), savings grow further because you avoid proportional personnel/end-strength costs.
Host-nation support (e.g., some European or Gulf payments) offsets a portion of U.S. costs today, so exiting would capture those avoided U.S. expenditures.
One-time costs (base closure, equipment relocation, environmental cleanup) would occur upfront but are dwarfed by long-term annual savings.
These figures exclude war/operational spending in the Middle East (e.g., recent Yemen/Iran-related operations costing billions extra), which would also end with full exit. Costs of United States Military Activities in the Wider Middle East Since October 7, 2023 (16 pg PDF)
In short, the direct taxpayer savings from exiting these specific bases would be in the tens of billions annually—a meaningful fraction of the overall ~$900 billion U.S. defense budget—but not hundreds of billions, as personnel salaries and core force costs would persist unless the military is scaled back. Strategic trade-offs (e.g., alliance commitments, deterrence) are debated separately and outside the pure fiscal question here. For the most current official context, DoD posture reports and congressional budget justifications provide the raw data, but independent groups like Quincy offer the clearest public tallies of overseas-specific burdens.
Basically, tens of billions could be spent within USA... healthcare, homelessness, infrastructure, etc.
![[Image: pIlzSjWq_o.jpg]](https://images2.imgbox.com/c7/59/pIlzSjWq_o.jpg)
Iran War Cost Tracker
"He denies targeting civilians, defends Iran’s retaliation, and warns that the US military presence across the Gulf makes escalation unavoidable.
Araghchi also signals possible new rules for navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, while rejecting a ceasefire in favour of a permanent end to the war."
Araghchi speaks good English but in this Mar 18, 2026 interview he chose his native language. Decent interpreter.
Here the answer(s) I got from AI in asking:
If US government exited all US military bases in the Middle East and Europe how much would that save American taxpayers?
According to the Quincy Institute think tank:
Exiting all U.S. military bases in Europe and the Middle East would likely save American taxpayers roughly $30–60 billion per year in direct costs, though exact figures are estimates because the Pentagon does not publish a precise regional breakdown of overseas basing expenses. This range comes from independent analyses of global overseas basing costs (primarily the Quincy Institute and similar studies), adjusted for the fact that Europe and the Middle East host a large share of U.S. overseas infrastructure and personnel. Quincy Institute
Key Data on U.S. Presence (as of 2025–2026) Europe (EUCOM): Roughly 80,000–100,000 U.S. servicemembers (permanent + rotational), with the largest concentrations in Germany (~34,500–46,000), Italy, the UK, and Poland. Total permanent active-duty around 65,000–84,000. CFR
Middle East (CENTCOM): Peacetime baseline ~40,000–50,000 troops across major hubs like Qatar (Al Udeid Air Base), Bahrain, Kuwait, and smaller sites in Jordan, UAE, etc. (Numbers fluctuate with operations; recent buildups tied to regional tensions have pushed higher temporarily.) NewsNation
Cost Breakdown and Savings Estimates
The most cited independent estimate (Quincy Institute, updated from FY2021 data and still widely referenced) puts the annual cost of building, operating, and maintaining all U.S. overseas bases worldwide at ~$55 billion (FY2021 dollars; higher today with inflation and larger budgets). Adding the extra costs of stationing personnel abroad (housing, schools for dependents, transport, allowances, etc.) brings the global total to ~$80 billion or more.
Other analyses align closely: ~$65 billion/year just for building/maintaining bases, or $94+ billion including personnel extras (updated to recent years). Overseasbases.net
Official DoD figures for “overseas operations activities” are narrower (~$28–32 billion in FY2023), but these exclude some construction and full personnel overhead. US Congress report
Total direct annual savings to taxpayers: ~$30–50 billion (conservative, basing-only) to $40–60 billion (including full personnel overhead). These are recurring savings once bases are closed and forces withdrawn—no ongoing rent, utilities, security, or overseas logistics for those sites.
Important Caveats on Net Savings
If troops are simply brought home without reducing overall U.S. force size, some costs shift to domestic bases (housing, etc.), reducing net savings to mainly the overseas-specific extras and base operations. Historical RAND and other analyses suggest the incremental overseas premium can be smaller in some cases (~$2–12 billion globally for certain posture changes), but Quincy-style full-attribution accounting (which attributes base ops directly) yields the higher figure above. RAND Corp
If presence in these regions is deemed unnecessary and force structure is downsized (as advocated by groups like Quincy or Cato in drawdown proposals), savings grow further because you avoid proportional personnel/end-strength costs.
Host-nation support (e.g., some European or Gulf payments) offsets a portion of U.S. costs today, so exiting would capture those avoided U.S. expenditures.
One-time costs (base closure, equipment relocation, environmental cleanup) would occur upfront but are dwarfed by long-term annual savings.
These figures exclude war/operational spending in the Middle East (e.g., recent Yemen/Iran-related operations costing billions extra), which would also end with full exit. Costs of United States Military Activities in the Wider Middle East Since October 7, 2023 (16 pg PDF)
In short, the direct taxpayer savings from exiting these specific bases would be in the tens of billions annually—a meaningful fraction of the overall ~$900 billion U.S. defense budget—but not hundreds of billions, as personnel salaries and core force costs would persist unless the military is scaled back. Strategic trade-offs (e.g., alliance commitments, deterrence) are debated separately and outside the pure fiscal question here. For the most current official context, DoD posture reports and congressional budget justifications provide the raw data, but independent groups like Quincy offer the clearest public tallies of overseas-specific burdens.
Basically, tens of billions could be spent within USA... healthcare, homelessness, infrastructure, etc.
Iran War Cost Tracker
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