{"id":62396,"date":"2026-05-12T12:06:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T15:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/pete-hegseth-dodges-as-hes-grilled-on-staggering-cost-of-trumps-iran-war\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T12:06:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T15:06:00","slug":"pete-hegseth-dodges-as-hes-grilled-on-staggering-cost-of-trumps-iran-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2026\/05\/12\/pete-hegseth-dodges-as-hes-grilled-on-staggering-cost-of-trumps-iran-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Pete Hegseth dodges as he&#8217;s grilled on staggering cost of Trump&#8217;s Iran war"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"js-article-text\">\n<ul>\n<li class><strong>Politics is fast. We&#8217;re faster. Sign up to the DC Insider newsletter for a front-row seat to Washington&#8230; and unlock 3 FREE months of DailyMail+ <a class rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/link.news.dailymail.co.uk\/join\/dc-insider-sign-up?\">HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>By <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/profile-3921\/victoria-churchill.html\">VICTORIA CHURCHILL, US POLITICAL REPORTER<\/a> <\/p>\n<p><span> <span>Published:<\/span> <time datetime=\"2026-05-12T16:04:04+0100\"> 11:04 EDT, 12 May 2026 <\/time> <\/span> | <span> <span>Updated:<\/span> <time datetime=\"2026-05-12T16:06:58+0100\"> 11:06 EDT, 12 May 2026 <\/time> <\/span> <\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>Defense Secretary <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/media\/pete-hegseth\/index.html\" id=\"mol-641dcfa0-4e0e-11f1-a81f-772b745f3a10\">Pete Hegseth<\/a> tried to avoid giving a clear answer about the cost of the <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/iran\/index.html\" id=\"mol-64298f70-4e0e-11f1-a81f-772b745f3a10\">Iran<\/a>war while appearing before lawmakers on <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/capitol-hill\/index.html\" id=\"mol-64294150-4e0e-11f1-a81f-772b745f3a10\">Capitol<\/a> Hill Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n<p>Hegseth appeared before the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday morning to discuss the <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/the-pentagon\/index.html\" id=\"mol-64276c90-4e0e-11f1-a81f-772b745f3a10\">Pentagon<\/a>&#8216;s budget, alongsidePentagon comptroller Jay Hurst and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan &#8216;Razin&#8217; Caine.<\/p>\n<p>The Defense Secretary was probed by California <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/democrats\/index.html\" id=\"mol-642570c0-4e0e-11f1-a81f-772b745f3a10\" class>Democrat<\/a>Pete Aguilar to share more details about the budget, to which Hegseth said the Pentagon would &#8216;share what we can  when it&#8217;s relevant and required.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Aguilar then responded that he believes, &#8216;this would be the format that would be required.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Hurst told lawmakers that the estimated cost of the war had risen to $29 billion, up from the earlier $25 billion number he had presented to lawmakers while appearing on Capitol Hill at the end of April.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;That&#8217;s because of updated repair and replacement of equipment costs, and also just general operational costs to keep people in theater,&#8217; Hurst noted as justification.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration is under increased pressure to end the war in Iran as the midterm elections loom amid mounting frustration with Trump&#8217;s Iran war, with gas prices rocketing by more than 50 percent to a nationwide average of $4.52 per gallon.<\/p>\n<p>Trump&#8217;s approval stands at 37 percent and 59 percent disapproval, the lowest reading of his presidency, according to a NPR\/PBS News\/Marist poll last week.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (C) US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine (R) testify during a House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Defense hearing to examine the 2027 budget for the Department of Defense on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on May 12, 2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>California Democrat Pete Aguilar questions Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at a House Appropriations subcommittee budget hearing for the Department of Defense, Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Washington, as Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar listens<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>During a hearing at the end of last month, Hegseth had a series of tense exchanges with top Democrats on Capitol Hill as he revealed the huge price tag for the Iran war.<\/p>\n<p>He was grilled over the conflict, which has been going on for nearly 10 weeks, up from the previous estimate of 4 to 6 weeks for the conflict.<\/p>\n<p>Hegseth faced questioning over the President&#8217;s claim that Iran&#8217;s nuclear facilities were totally &#8216;obliterated&#8217; &#8211; despite citing the regime&#8217;s nuclear program as a reason to go to war.<\/p>\n<p>Hegseth railed against the severe questioning by Democrats, who he claimed were &#8216;blinded&#8217; by their &#8216;hatred toward Trump.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>He told top Democrat Adam Smith of Washington that Iran&#8217;s nuclear facilities were taken out by B2 bombers during Operation Midnight Hammer &#8211; the June 2025 attack by the US.<\/p>\n<p>Given the administration&#8217;s earlier claims, Smith felt the need to question Trump&#8217;s reasoning for starting the Iran war seven months later in February.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;We had to start this war&#8230; because the nuclear weapon was an imminent threat,&#8217; said Smith.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Now you&#8217;re saying that it was completely obliterated?&#8217; he probed.<\/p>\n<p>Hegseth responded by saying that Iran &#8216;had not given up their nuclear ambitions and still had thousands of missiles.<\/p>\n<p>Smith said the war &#8216;left us at exactly the same place we were before.&#8217;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before a House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense hearing on President Donald Trump&#8217;s FY2027 budget request for the Department of Defense, next to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine and Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)\/Chief Financial Officer Jules WHurst<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>A detail of US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth&#8217;s socks are seen as he testifies during a House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Defense hearing to examine the 2027 budget for the Department of Defense on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on May 12, 2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Hegseth has faced lawmakers twice since the Iran war began at the end of February, and is participating in a third hearing on Tuesday morning as well.<\/p>\n<p>The series of hearings were set to discuss the Pentagon&#8217;s budget for the coming 2027 fiscal year.<\/p>\n<p>The administration has prepared a 2027 military budget proposal, which would boost defense spending to a historic $1.5 trillion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>                                                                                                                                  <ad-slot position=\"smart_feed\"><\/ad-slot>                                                                <ad-slot position=\"after_article\"><\/ad-slot>                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Politics is fast. We&#8217;re faster. Sign up to the DC Insider newsletter for a front-row seat to Washington&#8230; and unlock 3 FREE months of DailyMail+ HERE By VICTORIA CHURCHILL, US POLITICAL REPORTER Published: 11:04 EDT, 12 May 2026 | Updated: 11:06 EDT, 12 May 2026 Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tried to avoid giving a clear [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-donald-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}