Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared particularly unhinged during the first official news briefing about President Donald Trump’s attacks on Iran. Hegseth praised Israel, the U.S.’s military partner in the Iran strikes, for joining in what he described as “unleashing the most lethal and precise air power campaign in history.”
Hegseth said that the campaign was being carried out “all on our terms, with maximum authorities. No stupid rules of engagement, no nation-building quagmire, no democracy-building exercise, no politically correct wars.”
It was unclear what "politically correct wars” Hegseth is talking about. Maybe that one against Nazi Germany? Despite his bluster, Hegseth seemed rankled by the suggestion that we are now involved in a regime change. "This is not Iraq,” he said. “This is not endless."
His remarks, like most everything in the Trump administration, were not in sync with President Donald Trump’s own boasts to Fox News anchor Bret Baier. Trump claimed that U.S. and Israeli forces targeted an Iranian leadership meeting and took out “49 leaders.”
Hegseth also bristled at questions about the timeline for U.S. involvement, calling them “gotcha-type” questions, though he also warned that the Trump-initiated conflict “will include casualties. War is hell and always will be”
In case anyone forgot-- last June, Hegseth claimed Iran’s nuclear program—one ostensible reason for this latest strike—was “devastated” by prior U.S. strikes.
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