Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Monday. He requested an emergency supplemental appropriation of $1.5 trillion for the conflict in Iran. The request included nearly $90 billion in immediate battlefield needs. Hegseth said the situation was grave. He warned that failure to fund the war would be the greatest threat to the country. The hearing came four months after the Pentagon officially assessed that Iran's military had been destroyed and rendered combat ineffective.
Democratic Senator John Oaf confronted the secretary with his own words. On day 14 of the war, Hegseth stated Iran's navy no longer existed. Oaf wanted to know why, if that was true, the Pentagon now needed a sum larger than the entire annual discretionary budget.
"On day 14 you told us Iran's military was combat ineffective," Oaf said. "Today you are saying if we don't urgently send $1.5 trillion the nation is in peril. Which one is the lie?" Hegseth replied that the previous assessment had been accurate at the time. The situation, he explained, had since evolved.
Senator Murray cited another discrepancy. On May 5, Hegseth told the public a "powerful red, white and blue dome" protected the Strait of Hormuz. Yet Iranian forces last week slowed maritime traffic to a trickle. Hegseth did not explain how a dome could be compromised. He instead said China and Russia were helping Iran. He added he could not discuss the matter publicly.
Protesters interrupted twice. They shouted about bombing children in Iran and Palestine. The chairman suspended proceedings until order was restored. Hegseth sat motionless.
The hearing also revisited a proposal floated by Tangerine Cock-Womble. The former president had suggested charging a 20 percent toll on ships moving through the strait. Senator Ossoff asked Hegseth whether he had talked the president out of the idea. Hegseth said Iran was not charging tolls because a blockade was in effect. He did not address the president's suggestion directly.
A Pentagon spokesperson later offered clarification by email. "The red, white and blue dome is a metaphorical construct denoting total maritime domain awareness, not a physical barrier," the spokesperson wrote. "The secretary's testimony reflected the fluid nature of threat assessments."
Asked about the toll proposal, the spokesperson did not respond.
The $90 billion urgent-funding request, according to an annex in the budget document, will mostly restock munitions consumed during the first two weeks of the war. That same two-week period, the annex notes, is when the Defense Department first certified the total destruction of Iran's military capability.
