WATCH: Rep. Moulton presses Hegseth to say whether Iran war was a ‘good idea’

Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth if the Iran war, launched by the U.S. with Israel in February, was a “good idea” during a Wednesday budget hearing.

“Imagine what the world would look like right now if Iran had a nuclear weapon. Just imagine,” Hegseth said.

“Do you think we're winning?” Moulton asked. Hegseth said there’s been “astounding military success.”

“But are we winning the war?” Moulton asked, such as whether Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz could be considered winning. In his questioning, Moulton repeated a Democratic line of questioning about whether the conflict has fully achieved its goals of preventing Iran from having a nuclear weapon or has had success that benefits the U.S. and other countries.

When Hegseth mentioned the U.S. blockade of Iran, Moulton pushed back.

“They blockaded us, and then we blockaded their blockade,” he said. “That's like saying, ‘Tag you’re it’ or if President [James] Madison had said, ‘Well, the British just burned down Washington, but don't worry, we're going to burn it down as well.’”

Hegseth and other Pentagon officials were invited to testify on President Donald Trump’s 2027 budget request to increase defense spending to $1.5 trillion – the largest proposed amount in decades.

The House hearing gave lawmakers a chance to question the defense leaders for the first time since the start of the war on Iran, which the U.S. and Israel launched at the end of February. While Hegseth has touted the Iran war as “a gift to the world,” polls have found that a majority of Americans disapprove of the conflict and the Trump administration’s handling of it.

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