CNN host Laura Coates on Tuesday aired a series of contradictory comments on the Iran war from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, with a split-screen of his boastful claims from earlier in the year clashing with remarks before the Senate Appropriations Committee.
“The defense secretary and joint chiefs chairman spent hours before the Senate today, facing questions about the cost, strategy and endgame of the war with Iran,” Coates said. “And they put some hard numbers on the table. We got not one but two eye-watering price tags.
“The first was $37.5 billion. That’s what the war has already cost.”
Coates noted that the second number was $67 billion, which Hegseth “wants Congress to fork over to keep the war effort going” — despite claiming during an apparent “victory lap” in April that the Iranian military had been destroyed as a result of Operation Epic Fury.
She aired a montage of his reversals in a segment titled “Costly Contradictions.” It began with Hegseth telling reporters April 8, “Epic Fury decimated Iran’s military and rendered it combat ineffective for years to come. … Iran’s navy is at the bottom of the sea.”
The former Fox News host was then shown stating Tuesday that Iran could “impose their will on the waterways in ways that the world would not like. Call it a toll, call it a fee, call it an exchange, call it control. They would do something that they would try to hold it at issue.”
Hegseth was referring to Iran retaining significant control over the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes, and what would happen if President Donald Trump ended the U.S. naval blockade he imposed in hopes of pressuring Iran to reopen the strait.
“Then you’ve got shrinking American munitions stockpiles,” the “Laura Coates Live” host continued. “Last month, Hegseth was dismissing concerns that it was even an issue. Today, it was a reason the military needs an urgent cash infusion.”
The split-screen showed Hegseth arguing during a CBS appearance in June that reports of U.S. weapons stockpiles running low were “a manufactured story that the media wants to peddle,” but also showed him singing a different tune while requesting billions Tuesday.
“We face critical shortfalls that threaten our ability to also simply pay our service members, rapidly replenish equipment and munitions, and sustain vital operations without disruption,” Hegseth told the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Despite his request for dozens of additional billions being the result of a conflict started by Trump, Hegseth accused former President Joe Biden of “neglect” — blaming the prior administration for a budget that is only now purportedly lacking.
“But not the one currently in the Oval Office who decided to engage in this war,” said Coates.
