Among the many things Americans don’t know about the war in Iran is how much the U.S. military offensive costs and will continue to cost as combat operations continue. As of a week ago, congressional sources with knowledge of the matter said the war was costing the United States an estimated $1 billion a day.

It now appears that the price tag was even more. MS NOW reported Thursday as part of the network’s live blog coverage:

The Trump administration told Congress at a briefing this week that the first week of the Iran war cost at least $11.3 billion, a congressional source told MS NOW.

The figure, which was first reported by The New York Times, is not exhaustive and does not include the cost of the build-up before the war, the source said.

In other words, the initial estimate was $1 billion a day, and the administration has since revised that number to roughly $1.6 billion a day. Whether that number might yet grow again is unclear.

To state the obvious, the most important cost in any war is the human cost, and this avoidable conflict has already taken a brutal toll, from the American service members who have been killed and wounded to the massive casualties in Iran, including an apparent American missile strike on an Iranian girls’ school that killed 175 civilians, most of whom were children.

But given the broader circumstances, and the role of political leaders in shaping the war’s future, it’s important to acknowledge the fact that this is an election year, and many congressional Democrats have already seized on the growing financial costs.

Indeed, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference last week: “We’ve seen Republicans, led by Donald Trump, plunging America into another endless conflict in the Middle East, spending billions of dollars to bomb Iran, but they can’t find a dime to make it more affordable for the American people to go see a doctor when they need one. Can’t find a dime to make it easier for Americans who are working hard to purchase their first home. And they can’t find a dime to lower the grocery bills of the American people.”

What’s more, there’s also a legislative dimension to keep in mind. As The New Republic noted this week, “The Trump administration is expected to submit a supplemental defense budget in the coming days — asking for billions more to keep dropping bombs.”

A related Politico report added that GOP congressional leaders don’t yet feel any pressure to boost the Pentagon’s $1 trillion budget, while most congressional Democrats aren’t at all eager to support a supplemental spending package. The article added:

That leaves the White House with a difficult task, particularly in a fraught midterm election year. Administration officials will have to spend significant time and political capital to push through a hugely expensive supplemental spending bill— for a war that’s largely unpopular with the American people — even as the administration tries to burnish its affordability bona fides. And the sluggish timetable means any extra Iran war money likely runs into the president’s plans to supersize the defense budget next year.

This is, in other words, going to get even more complicated in a hurry. Watch this space.

This post updates our related earlier coverage.