Hegseth Defends Iran War as Impeachment Effort Advances

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended the U.S. war in Iran as necessary and declined to say whether he agreed with Vice President JD Vance that the conflict cost Republicans the midterm elections, as Hegseth faces an impeachment effort in the House.

At a Pentagon news conference on Tuesday, Hegseth said he would not take part in finger-pointing over the election losses. He said the conflict was undertaken for the right reasons, to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and said he would support taking the same action again. Vance has said the war was the reason Republicans lost the midterms, a political assessment also acknowledged by President Donald Trump, who cited rising gas prices while saying he would make the decision to go to war again.

Hegseth’s remarks came a day after Rep. Thomas Massie introduced eight articles of impeachment against him. Massie accused the defense secretary of misconduct over the Iran war and other military actions. The resolution alleges, among other things, that Hegseth waged the war without congressional authorization and disregarded laws intended to reduce civilian casualties. Those are allegations in Massie’s resolution, not findings...