Senator Chris Murphy Says Pentagon and Pete Hegseth Barred Inspection of Damaged Gulf Base, Calls It an 'Unprecedented' Cover-Up of Iran War Costs

Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy has accused the Department of Defense and Pete Hegseth of barring inspection of a damaged military base in the Person Gulf and refusing to brief him on the Iran War.

On October 6, the 53-year-old told reporters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, “This trip confirmed for me that there is an active, unprecedented, unconstitutional effort underway to hide the costs of this war and the implications of this war from Congress and the American people.”

Murphy claimed he wanted to look at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the largest American military base in the Middle East. The base was struck by Iranian missiles in the early weeks of the war in Iran.

“I’ve never encountered anything like this in my time in the Senate,” Murphy complained. He said the Pentagon’s actions were “part of a deliberate campaign of obfuscation that my Republican colleagues in Congress should demand an end to.”

He made a similar statement in an X post, writing, "For the first time in 20 years in Congress, I was denied entry to U.S. military facilities and even meetings with military leaders. An order from Hegseth — that applies to both parties — to hide the cost of the war."

“We appropriate the money for that military action, and it is an ordinary function of members of Congress to travel around the world and talk to our generals and to our troops about military activities, especially during a time of war,” Murphy noted.

“Adding insult to injury, the Department of Defense, under orders from Pete Hegseth, even denied me access to talk to military leadership,” he added. “They would not provide me even a briefing at the [US] Embassy."

"So just understand what this is: This is Secretary Hegseth deliberately trying to cover up the extent of damage, likely in the billions of dollars, trying to cover up the true cost of this war, trying to hide from you, from the American public, not just from members of Congress, the actual consequences of a war that is spiraling out of control by the day," Murphy concluded.

The Department of Defense denied that there was anything untoward about how it handled Murphy's visit, saying it had informed Murphy that they would not accommodate him. The Pentagon cited a March 3 directive from Hegseth restricting travel in the region.

Hegseth has drawn increased scrutiny for his efforts to limit damaging information about the war in Iran and his tenure as Defense Secretary, going so far as to kick journalists out of the Pentagon because they wouldn't sign a pledge to only publish Pentagon-approved information.

Furthermore, the allegations come as the costs of the war continue to skyrocket. Per the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the war has already cost American taxpayers over $40 billion, and Hegseth is demanding trillions more for the Pentagon.