House Democrats have filed six articles of impeachment against US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, accusing him of "high crimes and misdemeanors" for ordering strikes on Iran without congressional authorisation, among other alleged offences. The resolution, led by Arizona Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari, also cites Hegseth's alleged disregard for rules limiting civilian casualties — including a March strike on an Iranian school that reportedly killed at least 175 people, according to the New York Times — as well as the sharing of classified military plans on the Signal messaging app and the forced removal of transgender service members. The impeachment bid is widely seen as unlikely to succeed given the Republican majority in both chambers of Congress, and the Pentagon dismissed it as "another charade", but Democrats say the effort is aimed at holding the administration accountable for what they describe as war crimes and national security breaches.