The Hill reports:

Republican senators say that confidence is waning in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s leadership of the U.S. armed forces as the war with Iran drags on without an end in sight.

They are also warning that the success of a possible “massive attack” against Iran could be critical to shoring up support for the unpopular conflict.

Some GOP lawmakers are questioning the administration’s failure to anticipate the prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz — which has caused oil and gas prices to rise dramatically since February — or failure to anticipate Iran’s willingness to strike neighboring allies, such as Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

The expansion of the conflict in recent days to the Red Sea, where Iranian-backed Houthi militants targeted Saudi oil shipments, is another troubling development that some Republicans think caught the Pentagon off-guard.

“I don’t have any confidence in him anymore. I think he’s all over the place — he’s accelerating the retirement or forcing out some of the most distinguished leaders in the DOD that we have,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told The Hill, referring to the Department of Defense (DOD).

“I think he’s got a massive insecurity complex, he has a lack of experience in large organizations, he micromanages too much. He’s lost my confidence,” added Tillis, who recently has been more critical of President Trump and some of his lieutenants since announcing last year that he would not be running for reelection.

Tillis’s vote will be critical to advancing any budget resolution before the August recess to set the stage for advancing a $95 billion reconciliation package that includes $73 billion in funding for the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies.

Tillis says there’s a growing crisis of confidence in Hegseth’s leadership within the Senate GOP conference as costs mount and Iran appears no closer to agreeing to a lasting peace deal. [Continue reading…]