War Secretary Pete Hegseth walked into the Pentagon briefing room on Tuesday for his first press conference since May, and he came out swinging. Defending the U.S. strikes on Iran, he said, "We didn't start this war. Iran did, 47 years ago," pointing to the 1979 revolution and decades of proxy attacks on Americans. He praised President Trump for doing what no other president would, saying the decision was about the safety of the American people and not about politics. The timing was no accident, coming just a day after Republican Rep. Thomas Massie filed eight articles of impeachment against him over the handling of the war, with a House vote expected this week.

The war in question, Operation Epic Fury, began on February 28 as a joint U.S.-Israeli air campaign aimed at Iran's missile production, naval power and nuclear ambitions. Its opening strikes killed Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and American service members have lost their lives in the conflict. Critics argue the goals were never clearly defined and point out that Pentagon officials said early on that they had no intelligence of an imminent Iranian attack, which is why many dispute the claim that Iran fired the first shot. Some Republicans have also blamed the unpopular war for their party's midterm losses, while Trump has publicly stood by his Pentagon chief and says he considers the war over. Whether the House moves ahead with impeachment, and how the standoff with Tehran finally ends, are the questions now hanging over Washington.