Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing questioning Wednesday from lawmakers for the first time since President Donald Trump’s administration launched the war against Iran, which Democrats have contested as a costly conflict of choice waged without congressional approval.
The chief financial official for the Pentagon told lawmakers that the estimated cost of the war with Iran is $25 billion so far. During the hearing of the House Armed Services Committee, Jules Hurst III, the acting undersecretary of war for finances, said that most of the expense has been on munitions, but the military has also spent money on running the operations and equipment replacement.
Until now, Hegseth has avoided public questioning from lawmakers about the war, although he and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine have held televised Pentagon briefings. Hegseth has mostly taken questions from conservative journalists, while citing Bible passages to castigate mainstream outlets.
Democrats quickly pivoted to the ballooning costs of the Iran war, the huge drawdown of critical U.S. munitions and the bombing of an elementary school that killed children. Some lawmakers have also questioned how prepared the military was to shoot down swarms of Iranian drones, some of which penetrated U.S. defenses and killed or injured American troops.
Republicans have said they will keep faith in Trump’s wartime leadership, for now, citing Iran’s nuclear program, the potential for talks to resume and the high stakes of withdrawal. Still, GOP lawmakers are eager for the conflict to end, and some are eyeing future votes that could become an important test for the president if the war drags on.
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Ultra-orthodox protests against draft law ripple across Israel
Ultra-orthodox Jews are protesting Israel’s draft law throughout Israel this week, including in Jerusalem, where police used stun grenades to disperse demonstrations on Wednesday.
The draft remains a political powder keg in Israel. The Ultra-Orthodox make up 13% of the population and oppose enlistment because they believe studying full-time in seminaries is their most important duty. Courts have demanded the government enforce a law mandating conscription. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — facing elections this year — relies on ultra-Orthodox parties to maintain his coalition.
The arrest of yeshiva students accused of draft dodging kindled this week’s demonstrations, including in Ashkelon, where ultra-Orthodox protesters broke into a military commander’s yard Tuesday, prompting condemnation from Netanyahu.
“It is unacceptable what they are doing to yeshiva students as if they were the worst criminals,” protestor Menahem Adri said in Jerusalem. “All we want is to sit and study Torah.”
Kremlin warns of ‘dire consequences’ if hostilities against Iran resume
Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the Iran war in a phone call with Trump on Wednesday, with the Kremlin stressing the “dire consequences” if hostilities resumed.
Speaking to journalists, presidential adviser Yuri Ushakov said that Putin had told the U.S. president that a ground operation on Iranian territory would be completely “unacceptable and dangerous.”
Hegseth refuses to say why Army general was fired in tense exchange
Houlahan pressed Hegseth on why he fired the Army’s top uniformed officer, Gen. Randy George.
Hegseth refused to answer and didn’t deny the Democratic representative’s suggestion that he fired George via text.
Hegseth said he wouldn’t talk about the removal out of respect.
“However, I will note it’s very difficult to change the culture of a department that’s been destroyed by the wrong perspectives,” Hegseth said.
“So, Gen. George destroyed a culture?” Houlahan asked.
Hegseth said the department “needed new leadership.”
The congresswoman responded: “You have no way of explaining why you fired one of the most decorated and remarkable men who’s ever served this nation?”
“We needed new leadership,” Hegseth said. “That’s my answer.”
“And so your answer is a very immature way of responding to my request,” Houlahan said.
Hegseth hearing takes a 10-minute break
The testimony before the House Armed Services Committee has been going on for about three hours.
Democrats who urged troops to defy illegal orders face Hegseth
Four House Democrats are getting their first opportunity to publicly question Hegseth after they were part of a group of Democratic lawmakers who the FBI investigated after releasing a social media video last year that urged U.S. service members to follow military protocol and defy any illegal orders.
Reps. Chrissy Houlahan, Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio and Maggie Goodlander, who all previously served in the military or intelligence agencies, now sit on the House Armed Services Committee.
Houlahan, who was the first Democrat in the group to question Hegseth, reminded the defense secretary that “Democrats, even Democrats in Congress, are patriots as well” and “admire and love our uniformed services.”
Still, they confronted Hegseth with tough questions about how long the U.S. would be at war with Iran and how he has led the Pentagon.
Hegseth refuses to say how much longer the Iran war could last or cost
Democratic Rep. Chrissy Houlahan asked Hegseth, “How many more months, just by order of magnitude, do you think that you’re going to need to be able to conclude operations successfully? And how many more billions of dollars do you think you’re going to ask this body for?”
Hegseth refused to answer the question, saying that the U.S. military would never tip its hand to an adversary about how long it would be committed to the mission.
Trump says he’s rejecting Iran’s latest proposal, keeping blockade in place
The president told Axios on Wednesday that he’s rejecting Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for a lift of the U.S. blockade. Iran’s proposal, shared with U.S. leaders this week, sought to postpone discussions around Iran’s nuclear program.
Trump told Axios he doesn’t want to lift the blockade until Iran addresses its nuclear ambitions.
“The blockade is somewhat more effective than the bombing,” Trump said. “And it is going to be worse for them. They can’t have a nuclear weapon.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hegseth faces criticism over firings of US military leaders
Republican Congressman Don Bacon criticized the defense secretary over his ousting of admirals, generals and other top Pentagon officials. They’ve included Navy Secretary John Phelan and the Army’s top uniformed officer, Gen. Randy George, and several others.
“We had a huge bipartisan majority in here that had confidence in the Army chief of staff and the Secretary of Navy,” Bacon said. “And I would just point out … you may have the constitutional right to do these things, but it doesn’t make it right or wise.”
Deadly Iran school strike still under investigation
Hegseth says that two months after a deadly strike on an Iranian elementary school killed more than 165 people, including many children, the incident remains under investigation.
That answer came after California Democrat Ro Khanna pressed the defense secretary on the costs associated with the strike.
Hegseth replied that “that unfortunate situation remains under investigation” but that he “wouldn’t tie a cost to that.”
Hegseth told reporters last month that the military assigned a general from outside of U.S. Central Command to investigate the strike. Still, he refused questions about what led to it while arguing that the U.S. does not target civilians.
Those comments came just days after The Associated Press reported that there was growing evidence that pointed to U.S. culpability for the Feb. 28 strike, which hit a school adjacent to a Revolutionary Guard base in Minab, Iran.
Hegseth responds to economic costs of war with Iran
The defense secretary faced intense questions from Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, about what American households would have to pay due to the economic repercussions of the war with Iran.
“Do you know how much it will cost Americans in terms of their increased cost in gas and food over the next year because of the Iran war?” Khanna asked.
Pete Hegseth retorted, “I would simply ask you what the cost is of an Iranian nuclear bomb.”
Khanna then accused Hegseth and the Trump administration of failing to live up to the president’s campaign promises of lowering the cost of living for Americans. He argued that Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz would cause American households to pay thousands more dollars for gas and food.
“I’m sad for all the people who voted for Trump. I’m sad for them because you betrayed them,” Khanna said.
Hegseth says it’s unfair to call Iran war a quagmire
The defense secretary pushed back on Democratic criticisms that the Trump administration has led Americans into a “quagmire,” pointing out that the conflict is only two months old and asserting it has had great success against the Islamic Republic. The U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan dragged on for years, he said.
Trump said in early March that operations are likely to last four to five weeks but that he was prepared “to go far longer than that.”
The U.S. and Iran do appear to be locked in a stalemate. Trump seems unlikely to accept Tehran’s latest offer to reopen the strait if the U.S. ends the war, lifts its sea blockade and postpones nuclear talks. The Iranians seem unwilling to give up their nuclear ambitions before ending the conflict.
Hegseth says US military considered that Iran might close the Strait of Hormuz
He said the Pentagon “looked at all aspects” of the risk that Iran would blockade the strait. The claim came after Rep. Seth Moulton, a Democrat from Massachusetts, asked Hegseth if he considered “Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz winning.”
“I would say the blockade that we hold that doesn’t allow anything to come in or out of Iranian ports,” Hegseth replied.
So “we’ve blockaded their blockade,” Moulton said — that’s “like saying tag, you’re it.”
Caine declined to say if the risk of Iran closing the critical waterway was considered, but said the military always offers “a full range of military options that are carefully considered with the associated risks.”
The heated exchange was the latest between Hegseth and Democrats who have used the hearing to ask broader questions on the strategy behind the war in Iran and the Trump administration’s use of the military. Meanwhile, House Republicans have largely used their time asking very specific or detailed questions about the Pentagon’s budget and spending.
As TotalEnergies reports huge profits, protesters call for windfall taxes on fossil fuel companies
Climate activists protested outside a TotalEnergies petrol station in Paris on Wednesday after the French energy giant reported $5.4 billion in adjusted first-quarter profit, up 29% from a year earlier, as it “captured higher prices” despite production challenges due to the war in Iran.
The 350.org group said about 30 activists from several environmental organizations unfurled a banner reading, “TotalEnergies profits, we foot the bill.”
The group said war-related price spikes have cost French consumers and businesses more than $2.3 billion so far, urging the French government to “show political courage” by permanently taxing excess fossil fuel profits.
“While families watch their bills skyrocket, TotalEnergies posts some of its best financial results without even paying its fair share of taxes,” 350.org country manager Fanny Petitbon said in a statement. “We are witnessing an obscene transfer of wealth: the war enriches shareholders as it impoverishes citizens.”
Hegseth claims Americans support Iran war despite polling
The hearing has resumed, with a heated exchange between Democratic Rep. John Garamendi and Hegseth.
The secretary said the American people have supported the war’s mission of depriving Iran of a nuclear weapon, “despite your loose talk and words like quagmire.”
While an AP-NORC poll from March found that about two-thirds of U.S. adults said it’s “extremely” or “very” important to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, other polling suggests that most Americans disapprove of how Trump is handling the issue of Iran more broadly.
Garamendi had lambasted Hegseth and Trump for the Iran war, calling it “a political and economic disaster at every level.”
1.24 million projected to face acute insecurity in Lebanon, UN report says
That’s nearly one in four of the population analyzed, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis released by Lebanon’s Agriculture Ministry with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program.
The figures are projections and it remains unclear how the estimates were reached. The report notes that the current crisis follows seven years of compounded economic collapse and conflict.
“Compounded shocks are undermining agricultural livelihoods and impacting food security, highlighting the urgent need for emergency agricultural assistance to support farmers,” said Nora Ourabah Haddad, FAO Representative in Lebanon.
US energy secretary says ‘good on them’ after UAE announced it’s leaving OPEC
The United Arab Emirates is “a dynamic rising nation, a great ally of the United States,” Chris Wright said at a press conference in Croatia. “But they are a sovereign nation, they’ve invested massively in their own energy infrastructure, and apparently they want more flexibility about how to deploy that infrastructure.”
Both UAE and Saudi Arabia have been “great partners in investing hugely to power not just their nations and the region, but they are major energy suppliers to the whole globe,” Wright added. “A lot of our standard of living is massively benefited by the investments of the UAE and Saudi Arabia and Qatar and Kuwait and many of the nations in that region.”
Wright expressed confidence that as the oil flow starts to be unimpeded again after this conflict, “everyone that has spare oil production capacity will lean in and produce as much energy as they can.”
EU commissioner sees ‘no actual evidence’ of fuel shortages due to blockade of Strait of Hormuz
Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas said Wednesday commercial jet fuel stocks are markets are “under pressure in certain parts of Europe” and that the 27-member bloc maintains emergency fuel reserves that can be utilized “only if necessary.”
Tzitzikostas didn’t elaborate on when the EU will need to tap those emergency reserves, or offer any figures regarding current stocks.
But he said the EU is enacting a series of measures to dampen the impact of the blockade, including working to secure alternative fuel supplies from the U.S. and to establish a fuel observatory to monitor fuel supply and stock levels.
Joint Staff Chairman says Trump is making ‘tradeoffs’ in focusing military on Iran
Trump ordered three aircraft carriers into the Middle East — a number not seen since 2003. When asked why the U.S. military withdrew resources from Asia after identifying China as a top threat, the president’s top military advisor told lawmakers that Trump has to make “tradeoffs” when deploying troops.
“I’m confident that the president always carefully considers these readiness tradeoffs and I’m sure he has done so in this case based on the military options that we’ve presented with the associated risks and advice,” Caine said.
Rep. Joe Courtney, a Democrat, fired back by noting that the administration’s own National Defense Strategy released shortly before Trump launched the war said Iran was “weaker and more vulnerable than it has been in decades.” Putting that many troops to confront them, at the expense of other threats “does not, in my opinion, common sense,” Courtney said.
Hegseth engages in tense exchange over Iran’s nuclear program
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.
“We had to start this war, you just said 60 days ago, because the nuclear weapon was an imminent threat,” Smith said. “Now you’re saying that it was completely obliterated?”
Hegseth responded by saying that Iran “had not given up their nuclear ambitions” and still had thousands of missiles.
Smith said the war “left us at exactly the same place we were before.”
Committee takes a break
The committee is taking a brief recess to vote, which is expected to take about 20-25 minutes.
Top defense official says Iran war costs are estimated at $25 billion so far
During a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee, Jules Hurst III, the acting undersecretary of war for finances, said most of the expense has been on munitions, but the military has also spent money on running the operations and equipment replacement.
“We will formulate a supplemental through the White House that will come to Congress once we have a full assessment of the cost of the conflict,” Hurst added.
Caine says his goal is to tell civilian leaders what they need to hear
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told the committee in his opening statement that he wants to emulate Gen. George C. Marshall, who served during World War II and later helped Europe recover from the conflict.
“His commitment to civilian control and military and nonpartisan military remains a constant standard in something I borrow from often,” Caine said. “I strive daily to emulate his candor, delivering the facts to our leaders and telling them always what they need to hear, not always what they want to hear.”
Hegseth slams Iran war critics as ‘biggest adversary we face’
“The biggest challenge, the biggest adversary, we face at this point are the reckless, feckless and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans,” the U.S. defense secretary told lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee.
Rep. Adam Smith, the ranking Democrat, told Hegseth that he finds it “absurd” to claim that the Pentagon’s strategy is built on realism when the war in Iran seems like “the exact opposite of realism.”
Smith also said Hegseth needs to explain what the Trump administration’s goals were for the conflict.
“We’ve seen the cost, and the cost is very, very high,” he said.
Hegseth argued that the historically high Pentagon budget request will maintain “the world’s most powerful and capable military as we grapple with a complex threat environment across multiple theaters.”
Democratic lawmakers calls on Hegseth to answer where the Iran war is going
Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that he finds it “absurd” to claim that the Pentagon’s strategy is built on realism.
“We started a full scale war in the Middle East against Iran to try to reshape the Middle East,” Smith said, adding that was the exact opposite of realism.
Smith said Hegseth needs to provide an explanation of what the Trump administration’s goals are in the Middle East.
“Where is this going? What is the plan to achieve our objectives? We’ve seen the cost, and the cost is very, very high,” he said.
Republican House armed services chair praises Trump’s historic military budget
Mike Rogers, the chair of the House Armed Services Committee, praised Trump’s $1.5 trillion plan to fund the military in 2027, stating that it “accounts for the true cost of American deterrence.”
“This will enable us to truly catch up in our modernization efforts by quickly fielding new munitions, aircraft, ships, land, space and autonomous systems to replenish and expand our arsenal,” Rogers said.
Pete Hegseth hearing is underway
A House hearing with the defense secretary has started with a packed hearing room and many other people crowded into the hallway outside.
“Let the public in,” several people chanted outside as lawmakers found their seats. They also yelled at Hegseth as he passed them in the hallway.
The hearing is officially to discuss the Pentagon’s proposed budget, but it will also be the first time that Hegseth publicly answers questions on the Iran war on Capitol Hill. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, is seated beside the defense secretary.
A deal between the US and Iran will take ‘political will’
Grossi said the IAEA participated in U.S.-Iran nuclear talks in February, but not the ceasefire negotiations mediated by Pakistan. He said the agency has been in discussions separately with the U.S. and informally with Iran.
The latest proposal from Iran would postpone discussions on its nuclear program but end its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz if the U.S. lifts its blockade and ends the war.
Grossi described that as an indication Iran wants to sequence how it confronts the objectives mandated by the U.S., including curbing its ballistic missile program and dealing with its proxies Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen.
“Where the frustration kicks in, apparently for both, is that they do not seem to come to agreement, or be at an eye-to-eye level on what needs to be done first, or on how,” he said.
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