[News] Hegseth faces fury as Iran war deepens Pentagon readiness crisis

[Anti-Imperialist News]

english.almayadeen.net
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/hegseth-faces-fury-as-iran-war-deepens-pentagon-readiness-cr>
Hegseth faces fury as Iran war deepens Pentagon readiness crisis
Al Mayadeen English
September 5, 2026
------------------------------

The US Secretary of War is facing mounting criticism as prolonged
operations against Iran, extended deployments, and internal Pentagon
disputes raise concerns over US military readiness.

   - [image: U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends a forum of The
   Americas Counter Cartel Coalition in Panama City, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026.
   (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)]
   <https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2026/9/5/0a9f072d-87d6-4063-9063-907868b12875.jpg?width=1000>
   US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth attends a forum of The Americas Counter
   Cartel Coalition in Panama City, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026 (*AP*)

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is facing mounting criticism from former
military officials and Republican lawmakers over his management of the
Pentagon, as prolonged war on Iran places growing strain on American forces
and exposes divisions inside the Department of War,* The Guardian* reported.

Concerns surrounding Hegseth have intensified amid extended deployments in
West Asia, disagreements among senior commanders, blocked military
promotions
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/hegseth-faces-resignation-calls--pentagon-purge-targets-7-ne>,
and the resignation of Army Secretary Dan Driscoll
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/us-army-secretary-resigns-after-months-of-hegseth-friction>
.

Critics interviewed by *The Guardian* argued that the ongoing war on Iran
has highlighted broader questions over military readiness and whether the
Trump administration has a coherent strategy for the conflict.

“The secretary of defense is a clear and present danger to the national
security of the United States and the world,” retired Major General Randy
Manner, a former member of the US National Guard and member of National
Security Leaders for America, said.

“He has done more harm to the national security of the United States than
any secretary of defense since the country was created.”

Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who is preparing to leave the Senate
following disputes with US President Donald Trump, has also called for
Hegseth's dismissal.

“I have never witnessed more inept management of the brave men and women
who serve our country,” Tillis wrote on social media. “He is intimidated by
competence and retreats to ginning up culture wars instead of soberly
attending to the vital work of our national defense and the health and
wellbeing of our fighting force.”
Extended deployments raise readiness concerns

The criticism comes as the United States continues military operations
against Iran following the resumption of strikes near the Strait of Hormuz
after a month-long pause.

Recent attacks targeted areas on mainland Iran, as well as Iranian islands
in the Gulf, and resulted in civilian casualties.

Iranian media reported that five people, including a six-year-old child
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/us-attack-on-wedding-in-iran-leaves-four-martyred--including>,
were killed when a missile struck a wedding gathering in the southern city
of Kuhestak.

The aggression follows the February 28 attack on an elementary school in
Minab, where more than 160 people, including 120 children, were killed.
Washington has not formally accepted responsibility for the strike, though
US officials have said it remains under military investigation.

Hegseth has meanwhile ordered US forces deployed across West Asia to remain
in the region into the middle of next year.
War on Iran strains US military readiness

Washington currently maintains approximately 50,000 troops and 19 warships
in the region, partly in support of the naval blockade imposed on Iran
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/us-resumes-naval-blockade-on-iranian-ports>
.

According to classified material leaked from the Secretary of Defense
Orders Book
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/pentagon-restricts-classified-files-after-iran-war-dissent-l>
and reported by *The Washington Post*, several commanders formally objected
to the extended deployments.

The officials reportedly warned that keeping large numbers of personnel and
vessels concentrated in the Middle East could limit Washington's ability to
respond to crises elsewhere while further burdening forces already subjected
to lengthy deployments
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/286-days-at-sea--us-navy-stretched-thin-as-iran-war-strains>
.

Manner said those concerns were also reflected in conversations he has had
with serving officers.

“I have firsthand knowledge of people who are serving on active duty who
echo the exact same concerns that we are headed to a situation where we can
no longer defend Taiwan, that we are very unlikely to be able to defend
even, quite frankly, South Korea,” he said.

He also argued that sustaining the Iran war was consuming resources
intended for broader military readiness
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/the-war-on-iran-is-creating-risks-for-the-us-far-beyond-west>
.

“These are for training the rest of the force,” Manner said of readiness
accounts being used to fund the conflict. “So the rest of the force is
losing training hours, equipment and money for maintenance and operations.
The rest of the military is significantly degraded
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/trump--hegseth-clash-at-camp-david-over-depleted-us-missile>
.”
Questions grow over US objectives in Iran

The military buildup has also revived questions over Washington's long-term
objectives in the war.

Kevin Carroll, a former US Army colonel and military intelligence officer
who previously worked with the offices of the war secretary and Joint
Chiefs of Staff, questioned what Washington is now seeking to accomplish.

“I’m not sure what the strategy is here,” Carroll said. “What’s the enemy’s
center of gravity that we’re going after?

“We tried decapitating their leadership. That didn’t work. We tried going
after their missile program. We were not able to destroy it. Tried sinking
the navy, but they still maintain a mining capability."

“We could easily take out their energy infrastructure. But that would drive
the price of oil much, much higher, and lead to retaliatory attacks on the
energy infrastructure of our Gulf allies. It’s not clear what this target
set is intended to do.”

Nate Swanson, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and former White
House and State Department advisor on Iran, said the decision to maintain
forces in the region indicates Washington is settling into a longer-term
strategy centered on economic pressure and blockade.

“It’s a recognition of the fact that the past six months has failed, but
they don’t know what to do,” Swanson said.
Army secretary resignation exposes internal tensions

Pressure on Hegseth has also grown following the resignation of Army
Secretary Dan Driscoll, an ally of Vice President JD Vance.

Driscoll had reportedly clashed repeatedly with Hegseth over officer
promotions, military modernization, and the dismissal of senior commanders.

A source cited by *CNN* said Driscoll had raised concerns “surrounding Army
transformation and readiness and Hegseth’s blocking those efforts
specifically by firing the generals who were responsible."

Hegseth has made opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion policies a
central part of his tenure at the Pentagon, while numerous senior officers
have been removed or denied promotions.
Pentagon Culture Wars Fuel Readiness Concerns

*The New York Times* reported that Hegseth recently blocked seven officers
from advancing to two-star general.

Tillis praised Driscoll following the resignation, writing, “Dan was the
right man at the right moment to lead our Soldiers and Army civilians.”

The disputes have fueled criticism that ideological and cultural battles
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/pete-hegseth-s-purge-exposes-turmoil-in-the-us-military>
inside
the Pentagon are taking precedence over military preparedness as US forces
remain engaged in a prolonged regional conflict.
Critics draw comparisons with Rumsfeld

Some former military officials have compared Hegseth's leadership with
previous defense secretaries who came under intense criticism during major
US wars.

Retired Major General Paul Eaton, who trained Iraqi forces following the
2003 US invasion, argued that the situation under Hegseth is worse than
that faced under former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

“Rumsfeld had ‘next war-itis’, which was a contributing factor to Bush
firing him after the shellacking that the Republican party had in the
[2006] midterms,” Eaton said. “All this sounds faintly familiar with what
we’re going through right now.

“But this is infinitely worse because we had a lot of other very smart
people to corral the bad ideas coming out of Rumsfeld. [This time] we’ve
had the whole removal of seasoned men and women who have learned things the
hard way most of the time in combat."

“If you fail to plan, plan to fail, and what we’re seeing in the Iran war
is just evidence. The frustration is, we’re better than this in the
uniformed military but we got handed a terrible set of guidance from our
civilian leadership.”
Hegseth's culture-war legacy questioned

Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution said the US military retained
enough depth to withstand the removal of experienced personnel in the short
term, but warned that some losses could be difficult to replace.

“We haven’t had a TV talkshow star with a strong partisan and cultural
agenda wind up as secretary of defense,” O’Hanlon said. “There may be some
echoes of previous secretaries, but the political and culture stuff is Pete
Hegseth through and through.”

Hegseth, he predicted, “is going to wind up being known as the guy who
fought Trump’s culture wars for him – and maybe failed to help Trump stay
out of trouble in the Iran war, depending on how bad that gets.”

*Read more: Pete Hegseth’s purge exposes turmoil in the US military
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/pete-hegseth-s-purge-exposes-turmoil-in-the-us-military>*
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