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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth testified Wednesday before the House Armed Forces Committee, fielding complicated questions about the war with Iran and defending the Pentagon’s request to increase the defense budget.
“We appreciate the opportunity to testify in full support of President Trump’s historic $1.5 trillion fiscal year 2027 budget request for the Department of War,” Hegseth said in his opening statement.
He continued, “The president’s budget request reflects the urgency of the moment, addressing both the deferment of longstanding problems as well as positioning our forces for both the current and the future fight. We think divesting to invest is a strategy of austerity.”
Hegseth was also joined by General Dan Caine, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Hegseth’s testimony before the hearing grew tense at times, as lawmakers questioned him on complications involving Operation Epic Fury, including the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and the myriad statements from the Trump administration regarding Iranian nuclear capabilities.
“Their nuclear facilities have been obliterated,” Hegseth told Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the highest-ranking Democrat member of the AF House Committee. “Underground, they’re buried, and we’re watching them twenty-four seven. So we know where any nuclear material might be.”
Smith shot back, “Wait a second here. We had to start this war, you just said, 60 days ago, because the nuclear weapon was an imminent threat. Now you’re saying that it was completely obliterated.”
Hegseth replied, “They had not given up their nuclear ambitions.”
Smith then referenced Operation Midnight Hammer, the U.S. air strikes that hit several Iranian uranium enrichment facilities last summer and, according to the Trump administration in 2025, totally wiped out Iran’s nuclear abilities.
Smith observed, talking past Hegseth’s rebuttals, “Operation Midnight Hammer accomplished nothing of substance; it left us at exactly the same place we were before, so much so that we had to start a war.”
Hegseth clarified that Operation Midnight Hammer had obliterated Iran’s nuclear facilities, but said “their ambitions continued,” noting that the regime had built a conventional shield, fortified with ballistic missiles, to “slow walk” their way to a nuclear weapon.
On the issue of the Strait of Hormuz, responsible for 20 percent of the world’s oil flow and up to one-third of global fertilizer supply, General Dan Caine responded to a question asking if the Pentagon had considered that Iran might close the channel as a consequence of this operation.
“My point in this is: we always offer a full range of military options that are carefully considered with the associated risks with those options, and the considerations therein…,” Caine said.
Hegseth chimed in, “Of course. This department has looked at all aspects of this risk…”
On the subject of finances, Pentagon comptroller Jay Hurst told the committee that the war in Iran has cost the United States approximately $25 billion so far. The bulk of this price tag is tacked to munitions, he said.
Overall, Hegseth seemed to maintain that the biggest problem facing the Department of War at this moment has been negative questions or comments from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
“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 feistily told the committee. “Two months in, I remind you, two months into a conflict. Lest I remind you, and my generation understands how long we were in Iraq, how long we were in Afghanistan, how long we were in Vietnam. Two months in on an existential fight for the safety of the American people: Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb. We are proud of this undertaking.”
