Hegseth Short-Circuits Trying to Explain How U.S. Is Winning Iran War
The Trump administration fails to explain how the United States comes out on top in the Iran war.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday to defend the Defense Department’s latest budget requests, but he did not provide examples illustrating U.S. accomplishments in the current Middle East conflict.
“To what extent did Iran benefit from the lifting of sanctions on Iran when you started this war? asked Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton.
“I can tell you that Iran is financially devastated. » said Hegseth.
This is partly true. The war has forced more than a million Iranians into unemploymentdevastated the country’s infrastructure and caused the value of the Iranian currency to plummet. In response, Tehran’s authoritarian regime has raised wages, subsidized basic goods and provided cash supplements to the poor, leveraging the government’s relative wealth to resist Washington’s pressure campaign.
But a few weeks after the start of the war, Donald Trump chose to temporarily lift sanctions on 140 million barrels of Iranian oil that were at sea. In doing so, he gave the country a $14 billion windfall that has since strengthened the regime.
“They made about $14 billion,” Moulton said, citing that figure, although he was interrupted by Hegseth.
“They’re at a point where, between the blockade and what we’ve done to them militarily, remember they don’t have a navy so they can’t challenge the blockade,” Hegseth said, adding that Tehran had “very few options.”
“Okay,” Moulton continued. “How many Chinese missiles can they buy with $14 billion? Does that sound like a victory?”
“Um, that’s not the case – we’re making sure they don’t buy Chinese missiles,” Hegseth said, lowering his voice.
MOULTON: To what extent has Iran benefited from your administration’s lifting of sanctions?
HEGSETH: Iran is currently financially devastated
MOULTON: They made about $14 billion. Does this feel like a victory? pic.twitter.com/3UDrFTivBd-Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 29, 2026
Hegseth stumbled over his remarks in another exchange with Ranking Member Adam Smith, debunking the Trump administrator’s account by suggesting that U.S. officials lied to the public last year when they claimed that Iran’s nuclear facilities were completely destroyed during Operation Midnight Hammer.
“Their nuclear facilities have been destroyed, underground…” Hegseth began.
“Woah, woah, woah, woah” said Black-smith. “You just said we had to start this war, you just said it 60 days ago because nuclear weapons were an imminent threat. Now you’re saying it’s been completely wiped out?”
“They had not abandoned their nuclear ambitions,” Hegseth replied.
“So Operation Midnight Hammer accomplished nothing of substance and left us in exactly the same place as before,” Smith interpreted. “So much so that we had to start a war. »
