Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington on April 30, 2026. (Cliff Owen/AP)
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats grilled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on his handling of the Iran war on Thursday, accusing him of sugarcoating the cost and fallout of the conflict as the secretary again lashed out at critics.
Making his second public appearance before Congress in two days, Hegseth defended the war as a “great success” and dismissed the claims of Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee that the conflict has left the U.S. worse off.
“We are two months into a historic military success in Iran, and you want to call it a defeat,” he said in response to questioning from Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “And it’s defeatist Democrats like you that cloud the mind of the American people.”
Polls have consistently shown that the majority of Americans oppose a war the U.S. launched alongside Israel against Tehran on Feb. 28.
Hegseth appeared before the committee one day before the conflict was set to reach the 60-day mark, a deadline that under federal law requires President Donald Trump to either seek congressional approval for the war or withdraw forces.
Hegseth indicated Thursday that the Pentagon will not abide by that time frame, arguing, “We are in a ceasefire right now, which our understanding means the 60-day clock pauses, or stops.”
Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, a Democrat on the committee who has led the charge to assert congressional war powers and force a debate on the Iran war, said that interpretation of the statute was incorrect.
Democrats repeatedly challenged Hegseth’s assessment of the war and its prosecution, citing Iran’s retention of highly enriched uranium, the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz and its impact on energy prices and the bombing of an Iranian girls’ school for which the Pentagon has yet to officially take responsibility.
Hegseth said the bombing, which took place two months ago, remains under investigation and declined to say when the Pentagon will release its findings. He emphasized that “no military, no country works harder” to avoid civilian casualties.
Several Democrats on Thursday also doubted the accuracy of the Pentagon’s stated $25 billion cost for the campaign. Blumenthal said he believed the estimate was “well below” the actual costs, based on information available to lawmakers.
Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the committee, offered a blistering critique of Hegseth’s leadership and said he was concerned Hegseth was telling President Donald Trump “what he wants to hear” about the war.
“Bold assurances of success are a disservice to both the commander in chief and the troops who risk their lives based on them,” Reed said. “Our military has performed heroically, but military force without a sound strategy is a path to long-term defeat.”
He also assailed Hegseth’s tenure as secretary, from his firing of dozens of senior military leaders to last week’s cancellation of the flu vaccine requirement for troops.
“Unfortunately, Mr. Secretary, I believe you are causing lasting harm to the military,” Reed, an Army veteran, told Hegseth. “The American people’s trust in our military took 250 years to build. You are dismantling it in a fraction of that time.”
Several Republicans came to Hegseth’s defense, many of them praising the decision to attack Iran.
Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri credited Hegseth with taking on the Biden administration’s efforts to improve diversity, equity and inclusion, describing them as a “sort of cultural Marxism.” Sen. Tim Sheehy of Montana, a former Navy SEAL, said the Iran war was just.
“President Trump did not start this war, we did not start this war,” Sheehy said. “These radical, barbarian, savage clerics who started killing Americans 47 years ago in a unilateral campaign of terror, murder, treason, kidnapping, torture had been murdering our countrymen all over the world almost every single year.”
Hegseth on Thursday doubled down on his attacks on the war’s critics, repeating a statement he made in the House on Wednesday that the greatest threat the U.S. faces in the conflict was the “reckless naysayers and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans.”
He did not apologize when questioned by Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., about his likening of lawmakers and journalists to the Pharisees in the New Testament who had criticized Jesus for performing miracles — language Rosen said was hurtful and antisemitic.
“I feel like it’s a pretty accurate term for folks who don’t see the plank in their own eye and always want to see what’s wrong with an operation as opposed to the historic success of preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon,” Hegseth said. “So I stand by it.”