Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the Appropriations Committee vice chair, pressed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on the administration's seemingly contradictory statements about the Iran war.
She questioned how Iran was able to launch lethal attacks on U.S. troops if its missile production capabilities and stockpiles had been "functionally destroyed."
"I acknowledge they still have capabilities, no doubt," Secretary Hegseth replied. "But the amount of damage that we've done to them over the course of these series of operations has put them in the worst place they've ever been."
Sen. Murray also asked how Iran had been able to blockade the Strait of Hormuz if the U.S. maintained control of the critical waterway, as the administration claimed.
"We've pushed almost, I believe, between 400 and 500 million barrels of oil under the nose of Iran over the course of Project Freedom," Secretary Hegseth said. "We've been in control of moving traffic through there for quite some time.
Will they retain the ability to recklessly shoot at commercial shipping — and that's what happened.
We had a ceasefire and then they shot at commercial shipping, recklessly.
That's what changed it."
The secretary also declined to directly answer questions about President Trump's abandoned proposal to impose a toll on the Strait of Hormuz, which the administration itself previously argued would be a violation of international law.
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