Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) sparred with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday over whether the U.S. military obtained an “overwhelming victory” in Iran as he declared in April.
“You said, ‘Operation Epic Fury was a historic and overwhelming victory.’ You said Iran’s military had been rendered, ‘combat ineffective for years to come,’ and you stated we had ‘achieved every single objective,” Ossoff told Hegseth during his testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee.
“Were those accurate statements?” Ossoff asked.
Hegseth said at the time service members had achieved a “historic military victory over Iran” pointing to the U.S. military’s strikes on Tehran’s air force, navy and defense industrial base as sign of the foreign force’s ineffectiveness.
Ossoff wasn’t satisfied.
“You stated four months ago that Iran’s military had been rendered ‘combat ineffective for years to come,’” the lawmaker said, repeating his question.
“Has Iran’s military been for the last four months combat ineffective?” the Georgia Senator asked.
Hegseth responded by stating Iran’s military has been set back “not just years,” but likely “decades” but noted that the diminished army still has “capabilities.”
“No one ever stated that every single missile was gone. Ultimately, combat ineffective means they’re not able to dig them out of their UGFs and shoot them,” the defense secretary said.
“It doesn’t mean they don’t have underground facilities where they put missiles in them and hold on to them because they’re the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism,” he added.
Ossoff said the goals laid out by the Trump administration were not achieved. Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) followed the line of questioning by telling Hegseth he’s a “failure” for not developing a winning strategy in the war.
Peters said the defense secretary failed to inform President Trump of the risks posed to the Strait of Hormuz and argued he did not have a plan to end the war.
“You, sir, are the failure. Not the men and women who are on that front line,” Peters fired back. “Not the men and women who hold up their honor with distinction. But if there’s a lack of a winning strategy, they’re in harm’s way. Their leaders have failed them…” Peters said.
“You don’t have a strategy. You don’t have a long-term plan to actually win this war.
