War Secretary Pete Hegseth slammed his predecessor Lloyd Austin in a rant on Tuesday in front of the Senate Appropriations Committee, claiming he had "no idea" what the former defense secretary had done for four years.

Hegseth appeared in front of the panel to discuss his department's $80 billion supplemental funding request, which includes $67 billion for the conflict with Iran, but also addressed larger plans for the war.

The secretary claimed the Biden administration ignored hypersonics and pretended the technology did not exist, so the United States did not need to invest in it. 

"I don’t know what Lloyd Austin did for four years. I really don’t," Hegseth said. "The amount of neglect, the amount of stale thinking, and bureaucracy—it was staggering when we took over.”

Hegseth also doubled down on the assertion that Iran is at its weakest point because of the current conflict, but noted that Iran still has some capabilities and emphasized that the point of the conflict is to keep Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.

“I sit in front of a committee that wants to talk about winning a war that’s been going on for four years and talks about the strategic defeat of a conflict that’s been going on for four months to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb," he said. 

"I would hope for some perspective in this town on the historic nature of what President Trump is undertaking."

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.