Sabri Beneshour

There are also reports that Iran previously laid a small number of mines in the critical shipping passage, prompting the U.S.

to bomb several Iranian mine-laying boats earlier this week.

All of this has essentially blocked off the strait to everyone except Iran, which continues to send its own oil tankers to deliver oil to China.

This situation has left entire regions of the globe competing to get the fuel they need, including liquefied natural gas.

A fifth of global supply has now been taken off the market.

Marketplace's Elizabeth Troval reports.

As the war continues, we're starting to get a better idea of how much the U.S.

military operation is costing U.S.

taxpayers.

For more on that, we are joined by Kent Smetters, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and head of the Penn Wharton Budget Model.

Good morning, Kent.

Good morning.

So we do not have an official estimate on costs from the Pentagon, but a lot of folks are trying to figure it out.

The Washington Post reported the government may have spent $5.6 billion in the first two days.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies said $3.7 billion in the first 100 hours.

Does that line up with what your thinking is?

$800 million a day.

Yeah.

What goes in to that number?

Does the cost of war per day come down over time, or does it just kind of sit there as a constant?