Self-styled “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth put on a show at the House Armed Services Committee on April 29, one that in a sane world might have gotten him fired immediately. Hegseth went in with his usual combination of arrogance and ignorance, proclaiming the invincibility of the U.S. military and declaring that we have won the war in Iran. Anyone who challenged that narrative, even in the slightest, was met with ad hominem attacks, including accusations of treason and of wanting Iran to have a nuclear weapon. AP notes, for example, that Hegseth dismissed criticism of the war as political and referred to lawmakers who have raised questions about it as adversaries of the Pentagon. “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 said.
In one tense exchange, Hegseth told Democratic Rep. Adam Smith that Iran’s nuclear facilities were obliterated in a 2025 attack by the U.S., prompting Smith to question the Trump administration’s reasoning for starting the Iran war less than a year later. “We had to start this war, you just said 60 days ago, because the nuclear weapon was an imminent threat,” said Smith, the ranking Democrat on the committee. “Now you’re saying that it was completely obliterated?”
Hegseth responded that Iran “had not given up their nuclear ambitions” and still had thousands of missiles. The fact that the U.S. intelligence assessment since 2007 has been (and still is) that Iran did suspend its nuclear weapons program in 2003 seems not to have been mentioned.
Rep. John Garamendi of California called Hegseth a liar and termed the war “a geopolitical calamity,” a “strategic blunder” and a “self-inflicted wound to America.”
“Who are you cheering for here?” Hegseth replied. “Your hatred for President Trump blinds you” to the success of the war.
Rep. Ro Khanna, after blasting Hegseth for the economic costs Americans are paying for the war, had the temerity to press Hegseth on the specifics of Iran’s nuclear enrichment, pointing out that Iran had far less enriched uranium when Trump pulled out of the Obama-era nuclear deal than it does today. “Do you know how much the enriched uranium was after you ripped up the JCPOA?” Khanna asked, referring to the Iran nuclear deal.
Hegseth ignored the question and instead criticized the high price of gas in California, Khanna’s home state, blaming the “horrible policies” pursued by Democrats.
Another notable exchange was that between Hegseth and Rep. Patrick Ryan (D-NY), an Army veteran with two combat tours in Iraq. Ryan confronted Hegseth on the deaths of six U.S. troops and the wounding of 30 others by an Iranian Shahed drone in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, on the first day of the war. Ryan pointed to contradictions between the accounts of the wounded survivors and claims made by Hegseth about the force-protection measures put in place. Hegseth claimed that all possible steps were taken to protect those troops; the survivors said, as recounted by Ryan, that they were effectively left defenseless.
“Telling the truth is important. And we’re not going to learn from these mistakes if we pretend these mistakes didn’t happen. Secretary Hegseth, those soldiers told the truth,” Ryan concluded. “Those soldiers are braver than you are. I commend them. They are asking for accountability. They deserve accountability. And I’m asking for the same, starting with you. And as I said a year ago, you need to resign immediately.”
