{"id":139399,"date":"2026-04-30T04:02:56","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T04:02:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/hegseth-clashes-with-lawmakers-over-iran-war-in-nearly-six-hour-long-hearing\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T04:02:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T04:02:56","slug":"hegseth-clashes-with-lawmakers-over-iran-war-in-nearly-six-hour-long-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/hegseth-clashes-with-lawmakers-over-iran-war-in-nearly-six-hour-long-hearing\/","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth clashes with lawmakers over Iran war in nearly six-hour-long hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON DC, Apr 30 \u2013 US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth sparred with Democratic lawmakers during a nearly six-hour-long hearing, in his first time facing questions under oath since the start of the Iran war.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hesketh appeared before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Dan Caine and the defence department\u2019s chief financial officer Jules Hurst.In his opening remarks, Hegseth said the \u201cbiggest adversary we face\u201d is the \u201cdefeatist words\u201d of Democrats and some Republicans.<\/p>\n

Democratic lawmakers on the committee criticised how federal money is being used in the conflict. Hurst revealed in the hearing that the war had cost the US $25bn (\u00a318.5bn) so far.<\/p>\n

Hurst said most of the expenses had been for munitions and to replace equipment.Hurst told the lawmakers that a full assessment of the cost will be provided at a later time.<\/p>\n

The US and Iran have agreed on a ceasefire to allow for peace talks, but the conflict has not officially ended.Money was a major talking point during the hearing.<\/p>\n

The White House has asked Congress to boost the US defence budget to $1.5tn (\u00a31.1tn), a sweeping rise that would mark the largest expansion in military spending since World War Two.<\/p>\n

Hegseth told the committee the budget request \u201creflects the urgency of the moment\u201d.<\/p>\n

Gen Caine said the $1.5tn \u201crepresents a historic down payment for future security\u201d that would allow the US to get ahead of fast-evolving technology.<\/p>\n

Democrats on the committee often characterised the US military action in Iran as an expensive \u201cwar of choice\u201d waged without the approval of Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have been lying to the American public about this war from day one, and so has the president,\u201d California Democrat John Garamendi said. He told Hegseth that Trump was \u201cstuck in a quagmire\u201d of another war in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Hegseth called Garamendi\u2019s statement \u201creckless\u201d, and denied Trump was in a \u201cquagmire\u201d. \u201cYour hatred for President Trump blinds you,\u201d Hegseth said.<\/p>\n

Many Republicans on the committee were largely supportive of the Pentagon, with congressman Carlos Gimenez of Florida saying he believes Iran is an existential threat to the US.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON DC, Apr 30 \u2013 US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth sparred with Democratic lawmakers during a nearly six-hour-long hearing, in his first time facing questions under oath since the start of the Iran war. Hesketh appeared before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Dan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139399\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}