Moment Pete Hegseth rips into Democrats who ‘hate’ Trump as he’s grilled over Iran nuclear ‘obliteration’ claim… and reveals eye-popping total cost of the war
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has had a series of tense meetings with top Democrats on Capitol Hill.
Donald Trump’s Secretary of War was outraged by the President’s claim that Iran’s nuclear facilities had been completely ‘destroyed’, even though he cited the regime’s nuclear program as a reason for going to war.
Hegseth resisted harsh questioning from Democrats, who he claimed were ‘blinded’ by their ‘hatred of Trump’.
Hegseth told senior Democrat Adam Smith of Washington that Iran’s nuclear facilities were eliminated in 2025 by the United States in Operation Midnight Hammer last June.
Given the administration’s previous claims, Smith felt the need to question Trump’s justification for starting the Iran war seven months later in February.
‘We had to start this war… because nuclear weapons were an imminent threat,’ Smith said.
‘Are you saying it’s been completely destroyed now?’ he investigated.
Hegseth responded by saying that Iran “has not given up its nuclear ambitions and still has thousands of missiles.”
Smith said the war ‘left us exactly where we were before.’
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is preparing to testify at the US House Armed Services Committee hearing titled ‘Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request’ on Capitol Hill on April 29, 2026
Representative Adam Smith, House Armed Services ranking member, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 11, 2024
On March 30, 2026, US Central Command released a video of the US targeting various Iranian military assets and stated: US forces continue to eliminate the Iranian regime’s ability to project power in meaningful ways beyond Iran’s borders
Hegseth faced intense questioning from lawmakers for the first time since the Trump administration launched the war against Iran. appeared Parliament building Hill for the first time since the start of the Iran war in late February.
Wednesday’s hearing is scheduled to discuss the Pentagon’s upcoming fiscal year 2027 budget.
The administration has prepared a 2027 military budget proposal that will increase defense spending to a historic $1.5 trillion.
Earlier in the hearing, it was revealed that the war with Iran had cost $25 billion ‘so far’, according to Defense Department auditor Jay Hurst.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and his wife arrive for Hegseth’s testimony before the House Armed Services Committee at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C., on April 29, 2026
Hegseth looks into the camera on Capitol Hill
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is preparing to testify before the US House Armed Services Committee
Some Democrats on the committee railed against Hegseth and the Trump administration in their questioning.
Democrat John Garamendi of California claimed that Hegseth and the president ‘lied to the American public about this war from day one’ and also described the strategy for the operations as ‘an astonishing example of incompetence.’
‘This war of choice is a political and economic disaster at every level,’ Garamendi said.
