Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth blasted Democratic senators at a hearing on Tuesday, clashing forcefully with accusations that the United States had demonstrated a failure of leadership in its war with Iran, among other areas.The confrontations show the difficulty Democrats have had in attacking Hegseth without also putting themselves seemingly at odds with the U.S.armed forces — while at the same time expressing reservations about the administration’s decisions.Sen.
Garry Peters, D-Mich., raised that skepticism with Hegseth, pressing him on whether the administration had a plan to bring the protracted war with Iran to a close.PETE HEGSETH HEADS TO CAPITOL HILL TO DEFEND TRUMP'S IRAN WAR AS 60-DAY CONGRESSIONAL DEADLINE LOOMSSecretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026.(Cliff Owen/AP Photo)Peters accused Hegseth of leaving the country in a worse position than when the war began."You — you don’t have a strategy, you don’t have a long-term plan to actually win this war.
Win the war! The men and women are going to be able to do it, but they need leadership.When will you show leadership?"Despite promises to end the conflict with Iran in under 60 days and multiple attempts to broker a peace deal, the U.S.
remains in a struggle with Tehran over control of the strait of Hormuz, a key waterway in the Middle East that acts as a bottleneck for much of the world’s oil trade.The U.S.first began the war in joint strikes with Israel on Feb.
28 that killed Ayatollah Ali Kahmenei.Hegseth, undeterred, fired back, pointing out that Democrats had allowed hesitations about the administration’s border enforcement policies to also extend to funding the government, including servicemembers.IRAN WAR'S PRICE TAG HITS $80B — MORE THAN DOUBLE WHAT CONGRESS WAS TOLDSen.Gary Peters, a Democrat from Michigan and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Af...