Hegseth faces a second day of Democrats grilling him over the Iran war Hello and welcome to our US politics coverage as Pete Hegseth faces a second day of grilling from Democrats on Capitol Hill, with senators getting their first opportunity to confront or praise the Pentagon chief over his handling of the Iran war. The defense secretary battled with Democrats - and some Republicans - yesterday during a nearly six-hour House armed services committee hearing, where he faced questioning over the war’s costs in dollars, lives and the diminishing stockpiles of critical weapons. The Senate armed services committee will hear a similar presentation on the Trump administration’s 2027 military budget proposal, which would boost defense spending to a historic $1.5 trillion. Yesterday Hegseth denied that the US-Israel war on Iran , which the Pentagon estimates has cost the US at least $25bn, was “a quagmire”.…