Defense Secretary Hegseth Clashes with Senators Over Iran War Costs and Strategy

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unraveled over questions about growing costs of the Trump administration’s war in Iran after he endured more than three hours of questions from skeptical senators in his first testimony about the conflict in more than two months.

Hegseth is urging senators to approve what he is calling “an urgent, necessary injection” of $67 billion into the U.S. military, adding to a Defense Department budget that is now surging to $1.5 trillion. His latest estimate for the growing costs of the Iran war has now reached $37.5 billion.

Not approving that supplemental budget request in the middle of the war “is the greatest threat our nation faces,” according to Hegseth. “Either invest in our warriors … or this is all just talk,” he told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday.

But members of the panel repeatedly hammered Hegseth for his “failure” leading the nation’s military as well as his contradictory statements and shifting rationales for the months-long war, which senators fear will turn into yet another “forever” conflict that risks American lives and billions of taxpayer dollars without a clear strategy to end it.

“Your characterization of this incredible effort as a failure is reckless and it’s irresponsible and I think it smears the sacrifice of the troops who are out there to ensure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon,” Hegseth told Democratic Sen. Gary Peters.

“Shame on you and others who call this a quagmire and a failure and want to turn around and say you want to support the warfighters,” Hegseth said.

“I will tell you how I used the word failure,” Peters fired back. “You, sir, are the failure. Not the men and women who are on the front line. … But if there’s a lack of a winning strategy, they’re in harm’s way; their leaders have failed them. … You. You don’t have a strategy. You don’t have a long-term plan to win the war. … When will you show leadership?”

Hegseth, furiously pointing his fingers at the panel, said Democratic senators “won’t fund the troops” and are playing “partisan politics.

“You don’t have the political courage to actually fund our department because you have Trump Derangement Syndrome and can’t commit to anything meaningful,” Hegseth said.

The explosive moment followed hours of testimony from Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in what was their first public briefing about the war since May, and the first time they’ve addressed the public after the deaths of at least three American service members within two days last week

At least 18 American troops have died since the beginning of the war, and more than 400 others have been injured. Nearly 100 other troops have been injured within the last month after the collapse of a fragile ceasefire.

Hegseth did not mention the recent deaths of American service members in his opening remarks as he pleaded for more funding. He was interrupted by a handful of protesters sitting in the room as soon as he started his opening remarks.

“Iranian Americans are against this war of aggression,” one protester shouted out. “Your hands are bloody.”

Democrats repeatedly asked what happened to $150 billion in new funding appropriated to the Pentagon through last year’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill, and why Hegseth should be entrusted to receive another round of funding without a clear plan to end the Iran war.

“You’ve told this committee that you’ve barely spent half of the $150 billion in reconciliation funding, and if you still have $75 billion available, why are you asking the American people to absorb the cost of a war they don’t support instead of asking for transfer authority for unspent reconciliation funding,” asked Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.

Those funds are already earmarked for future projects, Hegseth explained, while the requested $67 billion would support military pay, replacing equipment, “mission critical fuel shortfalls,” munitions supplies and advancements in “digital and space dominance.”

Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the committee, listed several items in the funding request that have no relation to the Iran war, including $800 million for the National Guard to patrol Washington, D.C., $1 billion for troops on the U.S-Mexico border and $900 million to continue attacking suspected drug-trafficking boats.

“The truth is your request does not make a lot of sense,” she said. “Why is this urgently needed for the Iran war?”

Hegseth repeatedly said throughout the hearing that the Pentagon is struggling to bolster the military due to “gross negligence and neglect” under the Biden administration, which “abandoned” the U.S. “strength posture around the world,” he said.

“We’re talking about the war you started. Not a situation in which oil was flowing freely, there was no conflict, we weren’t losing personnel,” Democratic Sen. Jack Reed told Hegseth.

“So your fallback to Biden is a very, very obvious excuse for what I think is probably, as you described so often, gross negligence,” Reed said.

Sens. Tammy Baldwin and Kirsten Gillibrand also pressed Hegseth to justify continued military spending on Iran while Americans are struggling at home.

“You are asking for unlimited money for bombs when people can’t feed their families, and I don’t know how this administration intends to defend those decisions to the American people,” Gillibrand said.

“Not unlimited bombs, senator,” Hegseth replied. “I’m asking for the right bombs at the right time to ensure we can deter our adversaries into the future, and that’s why this is a generational investment.”