Hegseth is being grilled on Iran war by Congress as peace talks stall
Here is the latest
- Hegseth Testifies: The Pentagon provided its first public estimate of the cost of the war so far — $25 billion — during testimony by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, before the House Armed Services Committee. Read more ›
- Tense Hearing: Democrats pressed Mr. Hegseth over the war, with Representative Adam Smith of Washington questioning what it has accomplished. The secretary assailed critics of the Trump administration, saying the biggest adversary the United States faces is not Iran’s military, but the “feckless and defeatist words” of Democrats and some Republicans in Congress.
- Budget Request: The Pentagon’s $1.45 trillion budget request, a roughly 40 percent increase over this year’s budget, is the subject of the hearing. Mr. Hegseth insisted the spending was necessary to put the Pentagon’s industrial base on a “wartime footing.”
- Gen. Dan Caine agreed when asked by Michael R. Turner, Republican of Ohio, if allies were “essential” for using bases, air space and other support in the Iran war. But Caine declined to identify those countries that are helping, deferring to civilian leaders to do so. Caines may want to avoid angering President Trump, who has criticized allies like Britain for not fully supporting the war that they were not consulted on before the United States and Israel attacked on Feb. 28.
- “You’re missing the point,” Hegseth told Representative Adam Smith of Washington, the highest-ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. Smith had been asking Hegseth why the United States attacked Iran in February if the operation last summer had successfully “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program, as President Trump claimed.
- Hegseth said Iran’s nuclear ambitions had not been eliminated but argued that its nuclear program had been. The United States has demanded that Iran halt further nuclear enrichment and that it hand over the fuel stockpile it has built up over the past eight years; Iran is resisting on both fronts.
- Hegseth sharply criticized defense companies for not making more than a dozen different munitions fast enough, rather than acknowledging that under his direction, the war on Iran has consumed record numbers of those munitions.
- Gen. Caine told lawmakers in his prepared remarks that after two months of war, the Iranians “are weaker and less capable than they have been in decades.” But the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency testified recently that “Tehran retains thousands of missiles and one-way attack drones.” Iran is also digging out its supply of missiles and missile launchers, buried in the rubble of U.S. attacks, and could reclaim as much as 70 percent of its prewar arsenal, according to some American estimates.
- Hegseth said the biggest challenge facing the U.S. in the Iran war was not the Iranian military, but critics in Congress. “The biggest challenge, the biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless, feckless and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans,” he said. This previews what will likely be a contentious debate over the Iran war later in the hearing.
- The hallway outside the hearing room where Hegseth is testifying is crowded with protesters, police, members of the news media and congressional aides. It’s loud and hot, with the occasional protester lining up to try to enter the room shouting, “Arrest him!” One protester’s hands were covered in what looked to be fake blood.
- The New York Times
