WASHINGTON — Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was “the first” person in the Trump administration to push for war with Iran, the president claimed Monday.
Trump revealed during a public safety roundtable in Memphis, Tenn. that he had surveyed his top military brass about how he should handle the situation, and Hegseth quickly advocated for military action to stop the theocratic regime from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“I called a lot of our great people. We have great people, and I said, ‘Let’s talk. We got a problem in the Middle East. We have a country known as Iran that, for 47 years, has been just a purveyor of terror, and they’re close to a nuclear weapon,’” Trump recalled.
“Pete, I think you were the first one to speak up. And you said, ‘Let’s do it, because you can’t let them have a nuclear weapon,’” Trump added.
Hegseth, who was seated next to Trump, nodded and gave a faint smile as the president spoke.
The US began Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28, participating in joint attacks on Iran with Israel. Since then, the American military has struck more than 9,000 targets and damaged or destroyed more than 140 Iranian ships, according to data from US Central Command.
Thirteen US service members have been killed in the fighting so far, while more than 200 have been wounded.
On Monday, just before the New York Stock Exchange opened, Trump announced a five-day pause on planned attacks against Iranian energy infrastructure, citing “very good and productive conversations” with the beleaguered regime.
Top officials in Iran, including its foreign ministry and Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bager Ghalibaf, denied that negotiations took place. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi acknowledged that he had engaged with his Turkish counterpart before Trump’s announcement that talks took place.
Turkey has mediated conflicts between the US and Iran in the past.
Trump didn’t identify the Iranian official, with whom he claimed special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held talks because “I don’t want them to be killed.” However, reports by Israeli media identified Ghalibaf as the contact.
Attacks by the US and Israel against non-energy targets in Iran are still ongoing.
The focus of the war has shifted to the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint off Iran’s west coast, through which about a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil flows on an annual basis. Iran has closed the strait since the war began, causing benchmark oil prices to spike above $100 per barrel.
“We are now having really good discussions,” Trump said Monday of his team’s alleged talks with Iran. “They started last night, a little bit the night before that.
“They want peace to– they’ve agreed they will not have a nuclear weapon, you know, etc.,” he continued. “We’ll see. You have to get it done. But I would say there’s a very good chance.”
