Iran War's 100th Day: $750 Per Household, Supreme Court in Focus

One hundred days after the United States and Israel first struck Iran on February 28, the war's costs are landing squarely on American households. A Moody's Analytics analysis found the average household has spent $750 more because of the conflict, about $447 of it on energy, as regular gasoline rose to $4.22 a gallon from $2.98 and Iran's throttling of the Strait of Hormuz pushed oil higher. Inflation climbed to 3.8 percent, the biggest jump in three years; consumer sentiment fell to a two-year low; 30-year mortgage rates reached 6.5 percent; and Spirit Airlines ceased operations, citing fuel costs. The Pentagon, estimated by the Harvard Kennedy School to be spending $2 billion a day, requested $200 billion in supplemental funding in March, of which the White House sought $98 billion.

The fighting escalated over the weekend. Israel struck Beirut's southern suburbs on Sunday, hitting two apartment buildings in a Hezbollah stronghold and killing at least two people, according to Lebanon's state news agency; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strike targeted "terrorist headquarters" in response to Hezbollah fire. Iranian officials threatened a "decisive and painful" response, and Iran's parliament speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, warned on June 7 that Tehran could abandon talks for "direct confrontation" if the attacks on Lebanon continued, saying Washington and Israel "only understand the language of power" and that US bases in the region had become "legitimate targets." The war reached its 100th day with the US shooting down two Iranian drones, while Washington lobbied the IAEA Board of Governors for a resolution demanding Iran account for its bombed nuclear sites.

For the roughly 400 US troops wounded and 13 killed since February -- more than 90 percent of the wounded have returned to duty -- the conflict has settled into a grinding stalemate, with the Navy blockading Iran's ports, the Strait of Hormuz largely closed, and Trump threatening a return to full-scale bombing if negotiations fail. The president, who denied on NBC's "Meet the Press" with Kristen Welker that he had ever promised "no new wars," faces 66 percent disapproval of his handling of the conflict. The energy shock is rippling outward: global airlines face roughly $100 billion in added jet-fuel costs, with prices up about 84 percent since February 28 and IATA warning of possible fuel rationing in Asia and Europe; separately, analysts warned the US has only a 6-to-12-month window before China closes the gap on advanced AI capabilities.

Beyond the war, the Supreme Court opened a decisive final stretch, racing to decide some two dozen cases that bear directly on presidential power. The justices are weighing Trump's executive order to end birthright citizenship -- after April arguments in which a majority appeared poised to strike the directive down -- a series of appeals over his authority to fire officials Congress insulated from removal, and challenges to transgender-athlete bans in West Virginia and Idaho. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told lawmakers the Justice Department was "not moving forward" with Trump's contested $1.8 billion fund, while an internal State Department memo outlined a plan to cut the number of African posts that can process US visas from nearly 50 to 20 regional hubs.