Mike Rogers

The Alabama Republican congressman who heads the House Armed Services Committee slammed the Trump administration, accusing the Pentagon of not being forthright on questions over the Iran war.

“We want to know more about what’s going on, what the options are and why they’re being considered,” Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Saks, told reporters following a closed-door briefing Wednesday with Pentagon officials, according to the Hill.

“And we’re just not getting enough answers on those questions,” added Rogers, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

The briefing to Rogers and other members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees were held the same day President Donald Trump said a deal to end the war is near, despite Tehran’s dismissal of his 15-point ceasefire plan.

On Thursday, Trump issued a warning to Tehran on social media to “get serious soon” on negotiating a deal to end the war.

As of Thursday, the death toll from the war has risen to more than 1,500 people in Iran, nearly 1,100 people in Lebanon, 20 in Israel and 13 U.S. military members, as well as a number of civilians on land and sea in the Gulf region. Millions of people in Lebanon and Iran have been displaced.

Rogers’ remarks on Wednesday were not the first time the Republican congressman has been publicly critical of the second Trump administration.

In March, the east Alabama congressman expressed concern over an NBC News report that the Trump administration planned to withdraw from NATO’s top command in Europe as part of an overall military restructuring.

“U.S. combatant commands are the tip of the American warfighting spear,” Rogers said in a joint statement with Senate Armed Forces Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss, at the time.

“Therefore, we are very concerned about reports that claim DoD is considering unilateral changes on major strategic issues, including significant reductions to U.S. forces stationed abroad, absent coordination with the White House and Congress,” the lawmakers said.