00:00Do you have a new estimate about what the war has cost us so far in this, the fifth month
00:04of the first year of this war in Iran?
00:07Senator, the estimate we have as of today is $37.5 billion.
00:12And is the current activity, which we've been told about, the exchange of fire back and forth in Iran, an
00:19indication that that number is going to go up in the months ahead?
00:23Some of that number captures additional O&M, mill pay, and other that would be anticipated through the fiscal year.
00:28So some of that anticipates what costs would be going out in the future as well.
00:31So the new number you've given me is what?
00:35$37.5 billion.
00:37And that represents the cost of the war through what period of time?
00:41Through now for certain aspects of it, but also mill pay, O&M, other anticipated costs through September 30th, Senator.
00:49How is it possible if their capabilities were, quote, functionally destroyed three months earlier, as she claimed, for them to
00:56be doing this now?
00:58Well, Senator, Iran is at the weakest point militarily it has ever been in in the past decade, certainly maybe
01:05in 47 years, as they've gathered effectively a terror army.
01:08And that terror army was built to try to create conventional capabilities to defend against a pursuit of nuclear weapons,
01:14which meant thousands of ballistics missiles, many of which we have destroyed, others of which they have put inside facilities
01:21and hidden in underground facilities.
01:22Well, that's what terror regimes would do.
01:24So I acknowledge they still have capabilities, no doubt.
01:27But the amount of damage that we've done to them over the course of these series of operations has put
01:33them in the worst place they've ever been.
01:35Undertaking a historic effort like this, of this scope and scale, of course, the Strait of Hormuz was front and
01:39center in every single aspect of that.
01:41Hence why one of our key objectives to begin with was to sink the entirety of Iran's navy, which its
01:47conventional navy was sunk.
01:49Now, you can't get rid of every single fast boat and every single machine gun and a fast boat or
01:53every single coastal cruise missile.
01:55So we acknowledge that if the state decided to become a terror state shooting at commercial shipping, that would be
02:00an ongoing and contested part of the battle to include their willingness to mine international water.
02:06So one side weaponized the Strait and we've been fighting back the entire time.
02:10So you were completely aware that the Strait of Hormuz could be closed?
02:12And obviously sinking their ships has not affected their ability to effectively close the Strait.
02:18We had U.S. boats that surrendered to Iranian ships under the Biden administration.
02:23So their navy was effective in expeditiously ways in the past.
02:26Listen, we're talking about the war you started, not a situation in which oil was flowing freely.
02:33There was no conflict.
02:34We weren't losing personnel as a result of Iranian actions.
02:38So your fallback to the Biden administration is just a very, very obvious excuse for what I think is probably,
02:50as you described so often, gross negligence.
02:52You did not fully inform the president that you would be in a situation where the Strait of Hormuz could
02:58be effectively closed, oil prices could surge, and effectively the Iranians could maintain their ability to strike back as they
03:09are right now.
03:09They just killed some of our service men's last weekend.
03:13This battlefield and all the dynamics of it, of which the chairman and I are responsible for ensuring the president
03:18understands every branch and sequel of what could happen, and we did, the fact that those contingencies all were part
03:24of the possibility, and we understood that, is all the more reason why President Trump deserves the kind of praise
03:30he should get for undertaking this effort, having the courage to ensure that crazy Islamists can't have a nuclear weapon
03:36to hold us at issue.
03:38And he's been willing to stay committed to that regardless of the challenges of this battlefield.
03:41Excuse me.
03:41So he should be praised.
03:43He should be praised for starting a war without authority, creating a situation in which the world economy is suffering
03:50tremendously.
03:51Obviously, we have to have extra money for our farmers, and we have no outcome, at least no realistic outcome
04:00in sight yet.
04:01Are Russia and China helping Iran, and if so, how?
04:09Well, Senator, as the chairman alluded to, there's definitely adversary alignment, attempts to do so, and there are many ways
04:17that we deter that, some of which are, and the depth and extent of it ought to remain classified, and
04:23it should, but there are ways in which both of those countries are limiting, at different levels, enabling some of
04:31the things Iran is doing.
04:32Yes.
