Iran's direct investment in its flagship nuclear program — including enrichment facilities, reactors, and related infrastructure — is estimated to have surpassed $100 billion over the years. For example, just building the Bushehr reactor (which was not attacked in the recent campaign) cost around $11 billion.
Interestingly, for the first time, Iran’s 2025 national budget explicitly listed nuclear-related spending: 16 trillion rials (about $313 million), with 75% of that (12 trillion rials) coming from the vaguely labeled “special projects” section. In the past, nuclear funding was hidden in classified or ambiguous budget items with no clear breakdown.
The indirect costs, primarily due to international sanctions imposed on Tehran over its nuclear ambitions, are estimated at $1.2 trillion in just the last 12 years. These sanctions caused a sharp drop in foreign investment and severely hurt the Iranian economy. Some reports claim that total economic losses — including missed economic opportunities — could reach up to $3 trillion.
Just imagine where Iran could be today economically, had it not pursued the dangerous fantasy of building a nuclear bomb.
