{"id":3244,"date":"2026-06-18T22:01:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T05:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/senators-seek-to-block-hegseth-travel-funds-until-pentagon-releases-report-on-iran-school-strike\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T22:01:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T05:01:52","slug":"senators-seek-to-block-hegseth-travel-funds-until-pentagon-releases-report-on-iran-school-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/senators-seek-to-block-hegseth-travel-funds-until-pentagon-releases-report-on-iran-school-strike\/","title":{"rendered":"Senators seek to block Hegseth travel funds until Pentagon releases report on Iran school strike"},"content":{"rendered":"
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WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Senators are seeking to block Defense\u00a0Secretary Pete Hegseth\u2019s\u00a0travel funds until the Pentagon submits several overdue reports to lawmakers, including its investigation into a deadly\u00a0strike on an elementary school\u00a0in Iran at the start of the\u00a0U.S.-Israeli war.<\/p>\n

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According to an annual defense authorization bill,\u00a0filed this week, much of the travel funds for the defense secretary\u2019s office may not be spent until Hegseth submits \u201cunredacted civilian harm investigations,\u201d including for the Feb. 28, 2026, strike on the Minab school. Officials have preliminarily said the U.S. was responsible for the strike, which was blamed on\u00a0outdated intelligence.<\/p>\n

Congress, which conducts oversight of the Pentagon, has not yet received the Defense Department\u2019s report on the investigation. It is believed to have been completed last month.<\/p>\n

Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement that this year\u2019s annual defense package \u201cforces the Secretary to be more accountable to Congress and will prevent many errors of the past from being repeated in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strike on elementary school became a flashpoint<\/h4>\n

The\u00a0bombing of the elementary school\u00a0on the first day of the U.S. war against Iran killed more than 165 people, many of them children, at the campus adjacent to a Revolutionary Guard base. It quickly became a focal point of the conflict.<\/p>\n

Outdated intelligence likely led to the United States carrying out the missile strike, according to those familiar with the\u00a0preliminary findings in March. If so, it would stand among the highest civilian casualty events caused by American military operations in the last two decades.<\/p>\n

Senators from both parties tucked the new provisions blocking Hegseth\u2019s travel funds into the National Defense Authorization Act to force release of the investigation.<\/p>\n

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The Senate bill text said not more than 25% of the defense secretary\u2019s travel funds may be spent until he submits the investigations, \u201cincluding all relevant supporting documents,\u201d for several incidents of civilian harm.<\/p>\n

The Pentagon didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Senators also demand video of the boat strikes near Venezuela<\/h4>\n

Senators also are seeking to withhold Hegseth\u2019s travel funds until the Pentagon releases \u201cunedited video\u201d of the\u00a0U.S. strikes against alleged drug-trafficking boats\u00a0near Venezuela.<\/p>\n

The Pentagon has conducted a\u00a0monthslong campaign\u00a0of strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, killing at least 211 people so far. Many of the attacks have been captured on videos that the department announces by posting select footage on social media.<\/p>\n

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In at least one instance,\u00a0survivors have been killed in follow-on strikes, which experts have said is at odds with\u00a0military law\u00a0and rules of engagement. Lawmakers also pressed for such video in last year\u2019s defense package.<\/p>\n

Additionally, lawmakers are seeking three other investigations into a series of strikes in Yemen in April 2025. They were conducted during the U.S. military\u2019s campaign against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels who were attacking merchant ships in the Red Sea.<\/p>\n

The list of requested investigations includes a\u00a0strike on a port\u00a0that left at least 70 dead and more than 170 wounded and\u00a0a strike on neighborhood in Sanaa, the rebel-held capital of Yemen, that hit a house, killing at least four people and wounding 16 others.<\/p>\n

The casualty figures for both were provided by the Houthis.<\/p>\n

At the time, U.S. Central Command didn\u2019t answer questions relating to the strikes in Yemen. Following the port strike, it said it \u201cwas not intended to harm the people of Yemen.\u201d Central Command argued it was intended to \u201celiminate this source of fuel for the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists and deprive them of illegal revenue that has funded Houthi efforts to terrorize the entire region for over 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senators conduct oversight as part of sweeping defense bill<\/h4>\n