France is present in the region to defend its interests or the interests of countries with which it has agreements. The Charles de Gaulle ship has been deployed in the eastern Mediterranean for a month to try to deter and prevent attacks by Tehran on France’s allied countries. All of this has a cost for the country. BFMTV has done the math and here is how much the war in the Middle East costs France.
Our colleagues conducted a simulation of the deployment costs based on figures provided by the Senate and the Court of Auditors. Among the forces present in the field, we find: personnel deployed on naval and air bases, the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, the eight frigates costing 10,000 euros per day, the 20,000 euros per hour flight of the Rafale, and the missiles costing between one and three million euros each.
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According to BFMTV’s estimates of the cost of a month of conflict, the 5,000 military men and women, paid between 1,500 euros and 3,000 euros per month, represent a cost of 11 million euros. Again, for the month, the frigates represent 22 million euros, the use of 6 Rafales for three hours costs 30 million euros. As a result, in one month, the budget for France’s external operations within the war in Iran would be 135 million euros.
A sum not to be compared with that of the United States during the same conflict, which is 800 million euros every day for waging war! This cost should also be put into perspective since France’s annual budget for external operations amounts to 1 billion euros. In one month, the cost of France’s external operations is thus higher than the usual average expenses but it is nothing exceptional in times of conflict.
/2026/04/07/69d55a137d480475790196.jpg "War in the Middle East: lockdown, port at a standstill… a few hours before the end of Donald Ts ultimatum")
