Hegseth requested an additional $21 billion for ongoing operations in Iran, but had several testy exchanges with Senate Democrats critical of his conduct.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth returned to Capitol Hill this week, where he and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine were grilled on the cost of the ongoing war with Iran.

Hegseth told lawmakers on the Senate Appropriations Committee the cost of the fighting has been about $37.5 billion since February.

“Rest assured that every dollar appropriated to the Department of War will be focused on building the lethality of our joint force, and reinforcing peace through strength,” the secretary said in his opening statement, using the Trump administration’s preferred moniker for the Department of Defense.

Hegseth specified that the supplemental budget request included $21 billion for readiness to replace equipment used in the conflict.

How Much Has the Iran War Really Cost?

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle questioned the accuracy of Hegseth’s estimates—which notably do not include additional future costs that the Pentagon is still on the hook for, notably the cost to repair any of the US facilities in the Middle East that had been damaged in Iran drone and missile strikes.

Although “Operation Epic Fury,” the first phase of the war, nominally ended in May, US and Iranian forces continue to trade nightly strikes. Four US soldiers were killed over the weekend: three in an Iranian missile strike on the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, and another in Iraq’s Kurdistan region during the controlled detonation of a downed Iranian drone.

The weekend’s casualties have brought the total US death toll from the war up to 18. As many as 100 Americans are also believed to have been injured in Iranian attacks—a fact that hadn’t been previously disclosed.

The new supplemental request comes just weeks after the Trump administration asked Congress for $88 billion, with the bulk meant to address the cost of the conflict, including $21 billion for munitions.

Hegseth Spars with Democrats over War’s Conduct

Hegseth, along with President Donald Trump, has publicly and repeatedly claimed that the Iranian military has been destroyed. The fact that back-and-forth strikes are ongoing between the United States and Iran suggests otherwise—a point that many Democrats on the panel observed.

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), widely regarded as a contender for the presidency in 2028, repeatedly asked Hegseth to confirm or deny the accuracy of a statement he had made two weeks after the war began, claiming that Iran’s military forces had been rendered “combat ineffective.”

Hegseth declined to answer the question directly, but he seemed to walk back his initial claims, noting that Iran had “underground facilities because they’re the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, and they’ve spent 47 years trying to hide their missiles under mountains, just like their nuclear capabilities.”

Hegseth also engaged in a particularly hostile exchange with Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), who is retiring after the upcoming midterm elections. Peters characterized the administration’s ongoing strategy in Iran as a failure, angering Hegseth.

“Shame on you and others who call this a quagmire and a failure, and then you want to turn around and say you support the warfighter. Either you do, or you don’t,” Hegseth said.

“You, sir, are the failure,” Peters responded. “Not the men and women who are on that frontline. If there’s a lack of a winning strategy, they’re in harm’s way. Their leaders have failed them.”

Democratic Lawmakers Question Hegseth’s Testosterone Policy

Senate Democrats are also questioning Hegseth’s newly-announced testosterone screening policy, which would see male soldiers over the age of 30 tested annually for “testosterone deficiency” as part of broader medical testing.

Supporters of testosterone replacement have suggested it could help address issues including weight gain and allow individuals to build muscle and stay sharp. Medical experts have questioned the validity of these claims, as have some lawmakers.

“The Department has provided no evidence that this sweeping new policy will improve force readiness or health, nor has it explained the scientific basis, costs, or risks associated with implementing it across the force,” read a letter signed by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), and Peters.

The lawmakers also expressed concerns about what it would mean for women in uniform.

“Coupled with the Department’s recent repeated efforts to redefine military culture around an exaggerated conception of masculinity, this initiative risks undermining years of work to ensure that women servicemembers are evaluated and valued based solely on their ability to perform the mission,” the letter read. “This stark disparity suggests that the Department’s priorities are being shaped less by an equitable assessment of force health than by the Secretary’s preferred cultural narrative.”

Hegseth’s “Warfighting” Pentagon Spends a Lot of Time on Politics

Since taking charge of the Pentagon, Hegseth has pushed for the US military to return to a “warrior ethos,” and has been opposed to anything perceived to be the result of “wokeness” or DEI initiatives undertaken by the Biden administration. 

On the flip side, Hegseth’s purge of “woke” ideology may have also led to the firing of numerous career officers and the cancellation of promotions for several flag-rank officers, for no other obvious reason than their gender or skin color. Hegseth has not commented on the rationale for blocking numerous promotions, but previously disparaged the Pentagon’s pursuit of “historic firsts” under the Biden administration in a speech to generals in Quantico, Virginia, in 2025, suggesting they made the military “less capable.”

Hegseth has likewise warned that overweight personnel risked termination, ordered that all service members be clean-shaven, and attempted to curtail the Pentagon’s list of recognized religions to eliminate minor faiths, who he disparaged as “Nordic pagans” in his Quantico speech. The new list raised a minor furor after it left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) off of its list of “Christian” denominations; Hegseth later backtracked after protests from Mormon lawmakers, including Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT), John Curtis (R-UT), and Mike Crapo (R-ID).

About the Author: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu has contributed to dozens of newspapers, magazines and websites over a 30-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: Editor@nationalinterest.org.

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