Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took the podium for the first time after Donald Trump launched his war in Iran to serve up a speech full of scripted lines and petty outbursts.
If the goal were to provide clarity and understanding on the U.S. objectives for its full-scale assault and what Americans should expect, the former Fox News personality came up miserably short on all fronts.
He contradicted himself. He contradicted the president. He became defensive when pressed by his own hand-picked Pentagon Press Corps to provide basic information, spouted partisan politics, and lacked empathy for the dead.
The defense secretary declared right off the bat that it would not be an endless war and insisted it was the opposite of the invasion of Iraq, while also refusing to set a timeline or rule out boots on the ground.
“I heard the question about four weeks,” Hegseth complained. “It’s the typical, typical NBC sort of gotcha type question. President Trump has all the latitude in the world to talk about how long it may or may not take, four weeks, two weeks, six weeks, it could move up. It could move back. We’re going to execute at his command the objectives we’ve set out to achieve.”
It was pointed out that the president himself said the war would likely last about four weeks on a call to the Daily Mail. He told the New York Times that it would take four to five weeks.
It was Hegseth’s first appearance in the Pentagon briefing room for a press conference since he kicked nearly all of the press corps out of the Pentagon in October and replaced them largely with pro-MAGA conservative influencers instead.
Despite the Pentagon’s effort to create a friendly pro-Trump “press corps” for Hegseth, it didn’t keep the defense secretary from getting worked up.
He even compared the U.S. media to enemy fire.
“President Trump and I have your back—always,” he said in a message to the troops. “Through fire, through criticism, through fake news, through everything. We unleash you because you are the best, most powerful, most lethal fighting force the world has ever seen.”
His combative demeanor was a far cry from when former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld regularly briefed the press on the Iraq invasion, and despite the administration launching a full-scale war, they only took questions for 13 minutes.
When another reporter asked whether there was concern that the war was spiraling into a longer conflict, and Americans wanted to know what they were sending men and women to war for, Hegseth was glib.
“Did you not hear my remarks?” he shot back. “We’re ensuring the mission gets accomplished, but we’re very clear-eyed, as the president has been, unlike other presidents, about the foolish policies of that past that recklessly pulled us into things that were not tethered to actual, clear objectives.”
As he spoke, the defense secretary leaned in aggressively, scowling at the reporter and gesturing at them.
Hegseth’s “clear objectives” were a series of declarations at the top of the press conference, lacking in detailed explanation.
“The mission of Operation Epic Fury is laser-focused: destroy Iranian offensive missiles, destroy Iranian missile production, destroy their Navy, and other security infrastructure, and they will never have a nuclear weapon,” he said.
But moments before that, Hegseth claimed that the U.S. had already “obliterated their nuclear program to rubble” with Operation Midnight Hammer last June.
He also insisted it was “not a so-called regime change war” but argued the regime did change.
As University of Chicago professor Robert Pape quickly pointed out: “Sec Hegseth just injected massive confusion, saying bombing Iran is NOT about Regime Change. This directly contradicts Pres Trump. Shows we are losing control. Iran is gaining control, waging protracted war. Trump is now caught in the Smart Bomb Trap.”
It’s not yet clear who will emerge as the leader of Iran after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed, but Trump has repeatedly called on the Iranian people to overthrow their government since launching the attack. The president even said the strikes “knocked out” most of the candidates to lead.
While he insisted there were clear objectives and the war would not be endless, Hegseth still would not rule out boots on the ground.
“We’re not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do,” Hegseth declared before going off on a rant. “I think it’s one of those fallacies for a long time that this department or presidents or others should tell the American people and our enemies by the way, ‘here’s exactly what we’ll do. Here’s exactly how long well go. Here’s exactly how far we’ll go. Here’s what we’re willing to do and not do.’ It’s foolishness.”
As he spoke, Hegseth’s voice kicked up a notch, and he waved his arms about while declaring the U.S. will “go as far as we need to go.”
New Yorker staff writer Susan Glassner compared his combative tone with the media as Hegseth “imitating Colin Jost imitating Pete Hegseth,” referring to the cast member who plays the Pentagon chief on Saturday Night Live with a lot of aggressive yelling and name-calling.
Even when it came to those service members killed in the operation so far, Hegseth remained defensive. In his remarks off the top, he mentioned the four casualties but did not extend condolences to their families.
“War is hell, and always will be,” he declared. “A grateful nation honors the four Americans we have lost thus far and those injured, the absolute best of America. May we prosecute the remainder of this operation in a manner that honors them: no apologies, no hesitation, epic fury for them and the thousands of Americans before them by Iranian radicals.”
Asked for more information about those killed, Hegseth’s tone remained defensive as he rattled off that the U.S. has “incredible air defenders,” but every so often, one “unfortunately” makes it through.
He shared that in this case, a tactical operations center was hit, emphasizing that it was fortified: “But these are powerful weapons.”
“Moments like that, as we remember them and we take care of them and take care of their families, only stiffen our resolve to ensure that we do this properly,” he quickly added at the end.
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