Senators look to jam Hegseth’s travel budget over boat strikes, Iran girls school bombing

Senators are looking to jam Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget until the Pentagon shares more information about the U.S. military’s strikes on alleged drug boats and the lethal bombing of an Iranian girls school at the beginning of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran.

In the Senate version of the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which the Senate Armed Services Committee advanced last week, lawmakers slipped in provisions to hold back three-quarters of the Defense secretary’s travel budget until both the House Armed Services Committee and the Senate committee receive an unredacted civilian harm investigation, including all supporting documents for the deadly strike on the Minab girls school in Iran on Feb. 28, where more than 150 people, mostly children, were killed.

The panel is also demanding unedited video of strikes conducted against designated terrorist organizations in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, a military campaign that kicked off in early September.

The Senate committee filed the NDAA on Tuesday. It greenlighted the massive defense policy bill in an 18-9 vote.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have at times expressed frustration with the lack of information coming from Pentagon officials during briefings on major national security developments.

Lawmakers tucked similar provisions in last year’s NDAA, demanding the Pentagon hand over unedited videos of the boat strikes and provide lawmakers a specific order behind the attacks or Hegseth’s travel budget would be cut by 25 percent.

The recent provisions were not in the competing NDAA bill that was approved by the House Armed Services Committee. Lawmakers in both chambers will debate the massive Defense policy legislation in the coming months to develop a compromise version.

Since Sept. 2, the U.S. military has conducted a minimum of 64 strikes against what the administration says are drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific and has killed at least 208 “narco-terrorists.”

The Trump administration has argued that boat strikes are part of an effort to curb the flow of illicit drugs in the region, while law-of-war experts have said the government is violating international law.

Last month, the Pentagon’s watchdog started reviewing whether the U.S. military followed an established targeting framework when conducting those attacks.

In the early moments of the U.S.-Israeli strikes inside Iran on Feb. 28, Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab was struck, killing at least 175 people, mostly children, according to Iranian officials. Pentagon officials have said the incident was under investigation, but they have not publicly acknowledged responsibility for the casualties.

It is unclear when the report will become public, but the investigation is complete and is waiting for a sign-off from the White House, Hegseth and senior military leaders, The New York Times reported.

When asked about the probe on Wednesday in France, President Trump reiterated that the incident is under investigation.

“I could have a report for you tomorrow. I would ask Pete Hegseth that question because they have it under investigation,” the president told reporters during the press conference.