\n<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON — <\/span>Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will face another day of grilling<\/a> on Capitol Hill, with senators getting their first opportunity on Thursday to confront or praise the Pentagon chief over his handling of the Iran war<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hegseth battled with Democrats \u2014 and some Republicans \u2014 a day earlier during a nearly six-hour House Armed Services Committee hearing<\/a>, at which he faced sharp questioning over the war’s costs in dollars, lives and the diminishing stockpiles of critical weapons<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Senate Armed Services Committee will hear a similar presentation on the Republican Trump administration\u2019s 2027 military budget proposal<\/a>, which would boost defense spending to a historic $1.5 trillion. Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, will again stress the need for more drones<\/a>, missile defense systems and warships.<\/p>\n They are now also likely to face tough questions about American troop levels in Europe after President Donald Trump on Wednesday leveled a new threat against NATO ally Germany, suggesting he could soon reduce the U.S. military presence<\/a> in the country as he feuds with Chancellor Friedrich Merz<\/a> over the Iran war.<\/p>\n If Wednesday is any indication, Republican senators may focus on the details of military budgeting and voice support for the operation in Iran. Democrats are expected to press for answers on strategy in the conflict, now in a tenuous ceasefire<\/a>, and Hegseth’s firing of top military leaders<\/a>.<\/p>\n Democrats call it a costly war of choice that lacks congressional approval or oversight. But Congress has failed to pass<\/a> multiple war powers resolutions<\/a> that would have required lawmakers to approve military action.<\/p>\n Questions that lawmakers have wanted to ask since the war began on Feb. 28 were answered \u2014 or evaded \u2014 at Wednesday’s hearing.<\/p>\n For example, the war has cost $25 billion, mostly in munitions, Pentagon officials said. But Hegseth refused to answer questions about how much longer the war would last or how much more it could cost.<\/p>\n Hegseth also said a deadly strike on an Iranian elementary school that killed more than 165 people, including children, remains under investigation. The Associated Press has reported<\/a> that growing evidence<\/a> pointed to U.S. culpability for the strike, which hit a school adjacent to a Revolutionary Guard base.<\/p>\n Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan of New York questioned Hegseth over whether the deaths of six American soldiers<\/a> by a drone strike in Kuwait could have been prevented. Hegseth didn’t answer the question directly but said the military took proactive measures to protect American forces. <\/p>\n In another tense exchange, Hegseth told Democratic Rep. Adam Smith of Washington that Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities were obliterated in U.S. strikes last June<\/a>. That led Smith to question the Trump administration\u2019s reasoning for starting the war in Iran less than a year later.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had to start this war, you just said 60 days ago, because the nuclear weapon was an imminent threat,\u201d said Smith, the ranking Democrat on the committee. \u201cNow you\u2019re saying that it was completely obliterated?\u201d<\/p>\n Hegseth responded by saying that the Iranians \u201chad not given up their nuclear ambitions\u201d and still had thousands of missiles.<\/p>\n Smith said the war \u201cleft us at exactly the same place we were before.\u201d<\/p>\n The defense secretary also faced questions about his decision to oust the Army\u2019s top uniformed officer<\/a>, Gen. Randy George, one of several top military officers to be dismissed since Trump returned to office.<\/p>\n Hegseth said \u201cnew leadership\u201d was needed, a claim that failed to satisfy Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, a Pennsylvania Democrat.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have no way of explaining why you fired one of the most decorated and remarkable men,\u201d Houlahan began before Hegseth interrupted her.<\/p>\n \u201cWe needed new leadership,\u201d he repeated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n