Democrats grilled US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth over the Iran War during his testimony before the US Senate as the White House requested additional funding for operations in the Middle East.

The US and Iran resumed regular exchanges of strikes earlier this month, with both sides saying the truce had effectively collapsed.

Hegseth told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday that the campaign against Iran launched by US President Donald Trump together with Israel on February 28 has so far cost an estimated $37.5 billion.

He said he was seeking $87 billion in congressional funding for the Pentagon, including $67 billion for operations in the Middle East.

“Without these funds, we face critical shortfalls that threaten our ability to also simply pay our service members, rapidly replenish equipment and munitions, and sustain vital operations without disruption,” he said.

In a series of tense exchanges, Democrats argued that Trump had failed to achieve his stated war goals and accused the secretary of misleading the public.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand from New York said Iranian strikes had killed at least two US service members in Jordan last week, despite Hegseth’s earlier insistence that Iran’s remaining missile stockpiles were “depleted and decimated.”

“That consternation is why so many New Yorkers are perplexed, stressed out and find this war to be incredibly unpopular,” she said.

“The Iranian defense-industrial base is effectively gone, but they do have underground facilities,” Hegseth replied, adding that Iran has “spent 47 years trying to hide their missiles under mountains.”

Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff similarly asked Hegseth whether the missile threat had been defeated four months ago.

“No one ever stated that every single missile was gone,” the Pentagon chief replied. “We never expected them to completely lose the ability to launch missiles,” he added, arguing that Iran could not go “toe to toe” with the US in terms of missile strikes.

During his opening statement, Hegseth was interrupted several times by protesters denouncing US strikes on Iran and Israel’s war in Gaza.

Hegseth defended the campaign as highly effective, saying that, unlike previous US administrations, Trump would not allow the country to be dragged into “stupid wars.”

“Militarily, Iran has been completely overmatched and crushed from the beginning,” he claimed.

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