April 29, 2026 12:15 PM UTC

Hegseth Struggles to Explain Iran War in Congressional Hearing

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• by: Colorado Pols

Secretary of Defense (we’re not calling him “Secretary of War”) Pete Hegseth is testifying in front of the House Armed Services Committee today on the Iran War. It’s going about as well as you would have guessed.

As The Washington Post explains:

Questions and contentious exchanges about the war in Iran quickly dominated Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s appearance before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday. A defiant Hegseth defended President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iran two months ago, and he attacked Democrats and some Republicans, accusing them of being “reckless, feckless and defeatist” about the war. Several Democratic lawmakers traded broadsides with Hegseth over the strategic direction of the war and the costs to Americans at home and abroad. Acting Pentagon comptroller Jay Hurst estimated the Iran war has cost the United States $25 billion so far. [Pols emphasis]

And why, exactly, are we stuck in a war that is costing each American family about $5,000? Don’t ask Pete Hague-seth to make any sense of it:

HEGSETH: Their nuclear facilities have been obliterated

SMITH: Whoa whoa. We had to start this war, you said, bc the nuclear weapon was an imminent threat. Now you’re saying it was obliterated?

HEGSETH: They had not given up their *ambitions*

S: So Operation Midnight Hammer accomplished nothing

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) April 29, 2026 at 8:53 AM

We have apparently, um, re-obliterated Iran’s nuclear facilities. So, there’s that.

MOULTON: Are we winning the war?

HEGSETH: Absolutely

MOULTON: Do you call Iran closing the Strait or Hormuz winning?

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) April 29, 2026 at 9:58 AM

As Navigator Research reports this week, Americans continue to voice disapproval about the Iran War, increasingly worrying that the war has no end in sight.