Reference News website reported on June 20th according to a report on June 19th on the website of the US "Wall Street Journal", preliminary estimates suggest that the conflict between Israel and Iran costs Israel hundreds of millions of US dollars per day. This cost may limit the country's ability to wage a protracted war.

Experts say that the largest single cost is the interceptor missiles needed to intercept incoming Iranian missiles, which alone could cost tens of millions to 200 million US dollars per day. Ammunition and aircraft also increase the cost of the war, as does the unprecedented damage to buildings. Preliminary estimates indicate that rebuilding or repairing these damaged buildings could cost Israel at least 400 million US dollars.

The report points out that rising costs increase pressure on Israel for a quick victory.

Israeli officials said that the new offensive might last two weeks, and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu showed no signs of stopping before Israel achieves all its goals, including eliminating Iran's nuclear program, ballistic missile production capability, and arsenal.

But this war is costly.

"The main factor determining the cost of the war will be (the duration of the war)," said Karnit Flug, former governor of the Bank of Israel and senior researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute. Flug said she believed that the Israeli economy could withstand a short-term campaign. "If it lasts a week, that's one thing," she said, "but if it lasts two weeks or a month, it's another."

The Israeli government said that in recent days, Iran had launched more than 400 missiles at Israel, which require advanced air defense systems to intercept. More missiles usually mean more interceptors are needed.

The report states that the "David's Sling" missile defense system jointly developed by Israel and the United States can shoot down short-range to long-range missiles, drones, and aircraft. According to Yehoshua Kalkusky, a senior researcher at the Israel Institute for National Security Studies, the system typically launches at least two interceptors each time, with the lowest number of launches costing about $700,000 per launch.

Kalkusky said that another missile defense system, "Arrow-3", can defend against long-range ballistic missiles, with each interception costing about $4 million. The earlier version, "Arrow-2", costs about $3 million per interceptor.

Other military expenditures include keeping dozens of F-35 aircraft and others airborne for hours over a distance of about 1,000 miles (1 mile is approximately 1.6 kilometers) from Israeli territory. Kalkusky said that the cost of flying each aircraft per hour is about $10,000. The cost of refueling aircraft and ammunition such as bombs must also be included.

"The daily cost far exceeds that of wars in Gaza or with Hezbollah in Lebanon. And this is all ammunition expenditure. That's a lot of money," said Zvi Eckstein, director of the Abarbanel Institute for Economic Policy at Bar-Ilan University. He referred to both defensive and offensive ammunition.

According to estimates by the institute, a month-long war between Israel and Iran would cost about 12 billion US dollars. (Translated by Xu Yanhong)

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