Senate Democrats demanded on Tuesday that President Trump immediately dispatch Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to testify under oath on the war in Iran, saying his administration had failed to explain the objectives, scope and endgame for the sweeping military operation in the Middle East.
In a letter sent to Mr. Trump, the Senate’s top Democrat and the ranking members of the armed services and foreign affairs committees noted that it has been common practice for cabinet officials to come before Congress when the country is at war. And they pointed to the dizzying series of changing explanations from the president and senior officials about the justification and goals for the military campaign, along with its high cost.
“Despite the public’s overwhelming concern about this war, your administration has provided shifting, and at times conflicting, objectives for this war, refused to define the scope of U.S. operations or the measurements for success, and failed to articulate an end game,” wrote Senators Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader; Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee.
“The mounting cost of this war requires answers to Congress and the public,” they added.
As the party in the minority, Democrats have no power to summon Mr. Hegseth and Mr. Rubio to testify. But several Democratic senators have threatened to try to stall Republican legislative priorities on the floor by forcing votes on a series of resolutions seeking to limit Mr. Trump’s authority to use military force in Iran, in a bid to get Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the majority leader, to agree to hold public hearings on the war.
“Public hearings would be a small but important first step to uphold your oath, to inform Congress, and to explain your actions to the American people whose sons and daughters are on the front lines of this war,” Mr. Schumer, Mr. Reed and Ms. Shaheen wrote.
Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 2 Republican, criticized the threat by Democrats to use potential votes on the war as a point of leverage, calling their strategy a “charade.”
Mr. Thune did not answer on Tuesday whether he planned to hold public hearings on the war, but said members of Congress would be hearing from administration officials “on a fairly routine basis anyway,” about the war.
But Democrats argued that was insufficient, noting that Mr. Hegseth’s and Mr. Rubio’s predecessors routinely appeared before congressional committees to testify on military engagements, including on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“We’re not going to let the Senate go on with business as usual,” said Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut. “We’re not going to let the Senate be silent until they make at the very least that commitment.”
Senators from both parties emerged from a classified briefing saying the administration had not provided an estimate of the running costs of the war. But most Republicans appeared unconcerned about that issue.
“Obviously there’s a cost to it, but the trade-off is exponentially more,” said Senator Jim Banks, Republican of Indiana. “This has been a very effective operation so far — maybe the most sophisticated military operation that we’ve ever seen.”
Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday that “the timetable is yet to be determined” on a Pentagon request for supplemental funding to cover the cost of the war.
But Democrats were already casting doubt on whether there would be sufficient backing for such a spending package.
“At this point, I am a hard no on a supplemental,” Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said as she left the briefing. “No more money. The one thing Congress has the power to do is to stop actions like this through the power of the purse.”
The calls for public testimony by the administration came as the Pentagon has said it was investigating whether the U.S. was responsible for an attack on a naval base beside an elementary school in Iran on Feb. 28 that killed at least 175 people, most of them children. Mr. Trump has claimed without evidence that Iran was responsible.
“Certainly I don’t believe there is any deliberate intent to target civilians in Iran,” Ms. Shaheen said exiting the classified briefing on Tuesday. But the episode, she added, “raises concerns among the public.”
Several Democrats said they would demand answers from Mr. Hegseth on whether the Pentagon had changed its policies on mitigating civilian casualties.
“It’s not a stretch to say that this secretary of defense wants us to have looser rules of engagement,” said Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii.
Most Republicans said they were waiting on the findings of the Defense Department investigation to weigh in on the deadly school attack.
Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana was the sole Republican to harshly criticize the strike. The U.S. made a “terrible, terrible mistake,” he said in an interview on Tuesday.
“I don’t see any reason right now to hide behind the investigation,” he added. “I think we ought to just look the American people in the eye and say it looks like we made a mistake, and we’re sorry.”
Megan Mineiro is a Times congressional reporter and a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for early-career journalists.
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