Making his first appearance before Congress since the Trump administration went to war against Iran, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday faced withering questioning from House lawmakers over the costly conflict.
Wednesday’s hearing stretched nearly six hours as Democrats and some Republicans questioned Hegseth over the war and his ouster of several top military leaders.
In one tense exchange, Hegseth told Democratic Rep. Adam Smith that Iran’s nuclear facilities were obliterated in 2025 strikes by the US prompting Smith to question the Trump administration’s reasoning for starting the Iran war less than a year later.
“We had to start this war, you just said 60 days ago, because the nuclear weapon was an imminent threat,” said Smith, the ranking Democrat on the committee. “Now you’re saying that it was completely obliterated?”
Hegseth responded that Iran “had not given up their nuclear ambitions” and still had thousands of missiles.
Smith said the war “left us at exactly the same place we were before.”
According to Pentagon figures presented to the House Armed Services Committee at a heated session purportedly centred on the administration’s 2027 military budget proposal, the war has already cost $25 billion (€21 billion). It would raise defence spending to a record $1.5 trillion (€1.28 trillion).
Democrats press Hegseth over reasons for war
While Republicans focused on the details of military budgeting and voiced support for the Iran operation, Democrats grilled Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about the ballooning costs of the war, the huge drawdown of critical US munitions and the bombing of a school that killed children.
Some lawmakers also questioned President Donald Trump’s dealings with allies and his shifting justification for the conflict.
Hegseth dismissed the criticism as political and rebuked lawmakers who pushed him for answers. “The biggest challenge, the biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless, feckless and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans,” Hegseth said.
Democrats accused Hegseth of misleading Americans about the reasons for the conflict and said rising gas prices are now threatening the pocketbooks of millions of people in the US.
“Secretary Hegseth, you have been lying to the American public about this war from day one and so has the president,” said Rep. John Garamendi of California, who called the war “a geopolitical calamity,” a “strategic blunder” and a “self-inflicted wound to America.”
Hegseth blasted Garamendi’s remarks.“Who are you cheering for here?” he asked the lawmaker. ”Your hatred for President Trump blinds you” to the success of the war.
Until now, Hegseth has avoided public questioning from lawmakers about the war, although he and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Caine, have held televised Pentagon briefings.
Hegseth defends firings of top military officers
Meanwhile, the defense secretary also faced intense questions about his decision to oust the Army’s top uniformed officer, Gen. Randy George, one of several top military officers to be dismissed since Trump took office again.
Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said George was deeply respected by members of the military and Congress and asked why Hegseth fired him. Hegseth’s response that “new leadership” was needed failed to satisfy Houlahan.
“You have no way of explaining why you fired one of the most decorated and remarkable men,” Houlahan began, before Hegseth interrupted her. “We needed new leadership,” he repeated.
The Pentagon also announced this month that Navy Secretary John Phelan was stepping down. Hegseth previously removed Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the Navy’s top uniformed officer, Gen. Jim Slife, the Air Force’s No. 2 leader and others, while Trump fired Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska said that while Hegseth is empowered to make personnel changes, he shared what he called “bipartisan concern” about the firings.