Iran

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during his testimony to the Senate Appropriations Committee that the cost of the Trump administration’s escalating war with Iran has reached at least $37.5 billion.

Tuesday’s testimony from Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine follows the deaths of at least three American service members within two days, with nearly 100 other troops injured within the last month after the collapse of a fragile ceasefire.

At least 18 American troops have died since the beginning of the war, and more than 400 others have been injured.

The administration is now seeking billions of dollars in a supplemental funding request after a 10th consecutive night of attacks. Hegseth is asking for another $67 billion from Congress to cover mounting costs for the war, among other demands.

Hegseth and Caine last testified to members of Congress about the war in May, around the same time they last delivered a public briefing to the press. Hegseth did not mention the recent deaths of American service members in his opening remarks as he pleaded for more funding.

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

Another shouted out “Stop bombing our children in Iran and Palestine” and condemned an “illegal” war.

Frustrated Hegseth explodes at Dem senator: 'You have Trump Derangement Syndrome '

Sen. Gary Peters hammered Hegseth for his “failure” leading the nation’s military as well as his contradictory statements and shifting rationales for the months-long war.

“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 him.

“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 warfire,” 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 harms’ 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.

Hegseth won't say if Trump will keep Qatari Air Force One when he leaves office

Asked by Sen. Chris Murphy whether the Pentagon will make public the amount of money spent to upgrade the Qatar-donated Air Force One jet, Hegseth says it’s “something we would look at.”

But asked to ensure that Trump isn’t going to take the plane with him when he leaves office, Hegseth stumbled over an answer.

“That’s not a decision necessarily for me to make,” he said.

Hegseth grilled over shifting rationales for Iran war: 'When you say two very different things, the American people don’t know who to believe or what to believe'

Sens. Brian Schatz and Kirsten Gillibrand peppered Hegseth with questions about the shifting rationales for the Iran war and apparently contradictory statements about the outcomes of attacks.

Hegseth has repeatedly said the overarching goal of the campaign is to prevent Iran’s nuclear capability, but “whatever duration we’ve set them back actually pales in comparison, and I’ll say it, to the Obama nuclear deal,” Schatz said.

“When you say two very different things, the American people don’t know who to believe or what to believe,” Gillibrand said. “Was it obliterated or wasn’t it?”

Hegseth said the nuclear sites that were targeted under Operation Midnight Hammer last year were destroyed by Iran “foolishly” continued to develop nuclear capabilities, which prompted renewed attacks, Hegseth said.

“You’re trying to make campaign commercials,” he told Gillibrand.

Asked how Iran still has missile capabilities despite the administration’s insistence that those were degraded, Hegseth said there still are “underground facilities” that Iran spent decades developing.

Dem senator to Hegseth: 'tell my constituents why this war is going so well'

Sen. Brian Schatz took aim at Hegseth as a self-described “reformed neocon” and the Trump’s “America First” movement to ask how the war in Iran squares with the administration’s agenda.

“You tell my constituents why this war is going so well,” he said.

Pete Hegseth is floundering. His desperate Senate appearance just proved that

The Secretary of ‘War’ is struggling to justify the continuing war in Iran as he asks Congress for more than $70 billion in supplementary funding.

Instead, he retreated to a series of embarrassing buzzwords.

Hegseth says funding Ukraine but not Iran war is ‘hypocrisy’

After senators approved supplementary military funding for Ukraine during the Biden administration, Hegseth says the panel’s refusal to do so for the U.S. military in Iran amounts to “hypocrisy.”

“I would argue providing for American men and women as opposed to Ukrainian men and women is a higher priority for the United States Senate,” he said.

“So five supplementals that went to Ukraine, as good as that cause may be, why is that righteous to do?” he said. “But funding troops in harm's way, right? Right now, given the threat and what they’re undertaking? This is a partisan exercise and hypocrisy.”

Dem senator presses Caine on whether military will strike civilian targets

Sen. Jeff Merkley repeatedly asked whether the U.S. military is targeting civilian infrastructure in Iran, including water desalination plants.

“I’m not aware of those being particular targets, nor am I aware of those reports,” Caine said.

Asked whether he is aware that civilian infrastructure does not amount to ‘legitimate” targets, Caine said the military has a “robust process” to determine targets.

“It sounds like you are assuring us hat we will, the United States, not target even in retaliatory sense infrastructure that is generally considered to be primarily for civilian survival,” Merkley said.

“As I mentioned, we have a robust process,” Caine replied before Merkley cut him off.

“It would be nice to have you say yes, because this is international law,” he said.

Trump appears to downplay deaths during Iran war by comparing them to deaths in other conflicts

During the hearing, on his Truth Social, Donald Trump listed the number of American deaths in previous wars compared to the 18 deaths during what he is calling the “Iran Military Conflict.”

Dem senator accuses Hegseth of 'gross negligence' after secretary repeatedly blames Biden

Hegseth has repeatedly criticized the Biden administration for allegedly failing to sufficiently fund the military during his four years in office.

Democratic Sen. Jack Reed tried to put a stop to that.

“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,” Reed said. “So your fallback to Biden is just a very, very obvious excuse for I think as you describe so often is ‘gross negligence.’”

He suggested that Hegseth has failed to provide the administration with contingencies for what the consequences of war with Iran would look like, including the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and resulting fallout.

Hegseth said Trump “deserves” praise.

“He should be praised for starting war without authority, creating a situation in which the world economy is suffering tremendously?” Reed said.

Hegseth's new estimate for the cost of the war: Nearly $38 billion

Hegseth’s latest estimate for the growing costs of the Iran war has now reached $37.5 billion.

That’s likely a low-end estimate, according to analysts.

Before the last week of attacks, the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated total costs to have reached between $34 billion and $42 billion. Other estimates place the true cost of the war to have reached more than $100 billion.