The deep unpopularity of the US-Israeli aggression against Iran has left US War Secretary Pete Hegseth and senior military leaders facing intensifying scrutiny after Democrats seized control of both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections, according to a US media report.
Senior Pentagon officials have privately voiced uncertainty about their positions as President Donald Trump comes under pressure to hold members of his national security team accountable for the Republican Party’s electoral rout, according to The Washington Post.
Officials familiar with military advice provided to Trump said Hegseth, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Dan Caine, and US Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper repeatedly delivered overly optimistic assessments of the war.
Hegseth, a leading advocate of the aggression, repeatedly portrayed the campaign as a success and claimed, without evidence, that Iran’s military capabilities had been destroyed or rendered “ineffective for years to come.”
Republican lawmakers privately argued that Hegseth had misrepresented the war’s timelines, goals, and objectives.
One Trump ally told reporters that Hegseth had been “either dishonest or incorrect” about the war from the outset.
Cooper and Caine were reported to have advocated further military action, with Cooper visiting the White House to recommend additional strikes even as the political costs mounted.
Vice President JD Vance directly linked the Republican defeat to the war, writing on social media: “The reason we lost is the war.”
Vance acknowledged that former Trump voters had turned to Democrats.
Trump publicly defended Hegseth on Wednesday, insisting he was doing “a very good job,” even as criticism grew from Republican lawmakers and administration figures.
Trump also conceded that Senate confirmation of any replacement would become far more difficult under Democratic control.
Democrats are preparing investigations into the Pentagon’s conduct of the illegal war against Iran, deadly strikes on alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean, the removal of senior military officers, and the politicization of the armed forces.
Representative Adam Smith, expected to lead the House Armed Services Committee, has identified “vigorous oversight” as a top priority.
Republican Representative Thomas Massie is preparing an impeachment vote against Hegseth that could reach the House floor as soon as next week.
Multiple Republican sources expect the measure to pass. Massie also questioned the broader responsibility for the defeat, stating: “You do not screw up this badly an election with just one issue,” and criticizing what he called Republicans’ “cultish following of Donald Trump.”
The Trump administration’s proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget faces an uncertain future.
Republican lawmakers have limited time to secure its passage before the new Congress convenes in January.
The aggression has imposed substantial financial and military costs. US Central Command estimated that the war had cost more than $47 billion by mid-October, including roughly $29–30 billion in munitions alone, figures that do not fully account for damage to US bases struck by Iranian missiles and drones.
The latest round of US-Israeli aggression against Iran began on February 28, when American and Israeli forces launched large-scale strikes on Iranian territory.
Iran’s Armed Forces responded with successive waves of missiles and drones under the operational codename “True Promise 4,” targeting US and Israeli assets across the region.
On June 17, Iran and the United States signed the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding in an effort to halt the aggression.
Iran’s Armed Forces later closed the maritime corridor again after Washington violated the agreement by reimposing a naval blockade on Iranian ports.
The political and financial fallout has underscored the failure of the US-Israeli war and the resilience of Iran’s defense capabilities in the face of aggression.
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