Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth got into a feisty exchange with Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) on Wednesday when the Democratic lawmaker pressed him on the Trump administration’s strategy in the Iran war.

Hegseth was testifying before Congress on the Pentagon’s budget when they got into it. Smith started off by saying “every president” since the Iranian Revolution in 1979 has “prevented Iran from getting a nuclear weapon without actually having to go to war,” including President Donald Trump in his first term.

He then claimed Iran’s “nuclear arsenal has not been weakened in any way” by Operation Epic Fury.

“So what is the plan to actually turn all of this lethal, kinetic action into an improvement in the nuclear situation?” Smith asked. “Because we haven’t gotten there yet. Play it out for us.”

“Well, I would take issue with the premise of the question that nothing was done,” Hegseth punched back. 

He said the Trump administration, rather than cutting “bad deals” and giving Iran’s theocratic leaders “pallets of cash,” was taking a different approach.

“That’s great, what are we going to do now?” shot back Smith, the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee.

Hegseth said attacking Iran was necessary now because the regime was “hellbent” on acquiring a nuke. He pointed to the strikes that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and said pummeling Iran was necessary to force its regime to the table — and guarantee the country drops its nuclear ambitions. Hegseth then said Iran’s nuke facilities had been “obliterated” by recent strikes.

“Whoa whoa whoa whoa!” Smith jumped in after that comment. “We had to start this war, you just said, 60 days ago, because the nuclear weapon was an imminent threat. Now you’re saying that it was completely obliterated?”

“They had not given up their nuclear ambitions,” Hegseth told him.

The two started talking over each other at that point, with Smith saying “nothing of substance” has been accomplished by the U.S. military.

“You’re missing the point,” Hegseth told him, “their facilities are bombed and obliterated; their ambitions continue.”

Watch their full argument above via CSPAN.

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