The first time a Trump Cabinet member defended the administration’s Iran war publicly on Capitol Hill, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took the witness chair for hourslong hearings before the House and Senate Armed Services committees this week, facing skeptical Democrats as well as questions from some Republicans.
Hegseth appeared at the hearings for the first time since the Trump administration went to war against Iran without congressional approval two months earlier, according to the Associated Press. The questioning Wednesday and Thursday focused on the administration’s proposed 2027 military budget and what lawmakers say are the war’s mounting costs, civilian impact, and knock-on effects on U.S. military readiness.
On Thursday, as the second day of hearings opened, Hegseth criticized lawmakers who questioned the war. “The biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless naysayers and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans,” he said, casting the conflict as a test of whether the administration is matching its rhetoric on Iran with results. Even within his account, Hegseth’s timeline offered an acknowledgment that the war has stretched beyond Trump’s early public pledges of only a few weeks, AP reported.
Democrats pressed Hegseth on the war’s end goals and what they described as economic fallout felt by households, including higher gas and other goods prices. Rep. Ro Khanna told Hegseth during a nearly six-hour hearing Wednesday, “I’m sad for all the people who voted for Trump. I’m sad for them because you betrayed them,” as he questioned the war’s costs, AP reported. Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services committee, argued Thursday that the war had left the U.S. in a worse strategic position, citing 13 American troops killed and more than 400 injured, the AP story said.
Reed and other Democrats linked the strategic picture to chokepoint dynamics and Iran’s capabilities. AP reported lawmakers said the Strait of Hormuz, a critical sea route for global oil shipments, remains closed—driving fuel prices higher—and that Iran retains highly enriched uranium and enough combat capability to keep the conflict in an impasse. Reed said, “I am concerned that you have been telling the president what he wants to hear instead of what he needs to hear,” reflecting the committee’s focus on whether Pentagon assessments are aligned with what the administration is seeking.
While Democrats pushed for assurances about civilian protection and clearer justification for the conflict’s continuation, Republicans concentrated more on details of military budgeting and backed the administration’s war approach. The hearings also underscored that Congress is nearing an expiration of a 60-day legal window that allows the president to conduct the military campaign without congressional permission, AP reported; the deadline was Friday at the time of the hearings. Hegseth said a fragile truce meant “the 60-day clock pauses or stops in a ceasefire,” and Sen. Tim Kaine responded, “I do not believe the statute would support that,” adding he had “serious constitutional concerns,” according to AP.
Lawmakers also contested the administration’s stated accounting of what the war has cost. Pentagon officials told lawmakers the cost of the Iran war to date is $25 billion, with most of that spending going to munitions, AP reported. Still, some lawmakers said they had been expecting an eventual request that would put costs closer to $100 billion, and Democrats expressed additional concern that the bombing campaign has depleted U.S. weapons—such as missile defense systems—potentially leaving the country more vulnerable if other conflicts break out elsewhere.
Hegseth told senators that the Pentagon was not in danger of running low on munitions, but he also attributed challenges to President Joe Biden’s decision to assist Ukraine and to an aging U.S. defense manufacturing industry, AP reported. He said, “On the munitions front, we’re in really good shape, but we need to accelerate,” and he presented the budget request as a way to multiply munition production rates and support the industry to replace any munitions used in the Iran war.
The hearings further highlighted how the Pentagon’s personnel decisions and civilian-death questions could collide with budget planning. AP reported Democrats and some Republicans questioned Hegseth’s dismissal of Gen. Randy George, the Army’s top uniformed officer, after Hegseth fired him in a broader pattern of high-level military departures since Trump took office again. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan pressed Hegseth about why he ousted George, saying the general was respected and asking why the decision had been made. Hegseth’s answer that “new leadership” was needed did not satisfy her, AP reported, and Houlahan began, “You have no way of explaining why you fired one of the most decorated and remarkable men,” before he interrupted. AP also reported that Republican Sen. Joni Ernst said she was “disappointed” to see George’s retirement “hastened.”
The second major dispute between lawmakers and the Pentagon involved evidence and open questions about targeting safeguards. AP reported that in the House hearing, Hegseth described a deadly strike on an Iranian elementary school—killing more than 165 people including many children—as an “unfortunate situation” still under investigation. The AP story said it had reported growing evidence pointing to U.S. culpability for a Feb. 28 strike that hit a school adjacent to a Revolutionary Guard base, and that experts, citing satellite image analysis, said the school was probably struck while bombs were dropped on the compound in quick succession.
Senators pressed Hegseth on what the Pentagon is doing to prevent civilian deaths. Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand asked, “What is your response to targeting that has resulted in the destruction of schools, hospitals, civilian places? Why did you cut by 90% the division that’s supposed to help you not target civilians?” AP reported that Hegseth replied that the Pentagon has an “ironclad commitment” to do more than other countries to prevent civilian deaths.