Donald Trump is sidestepping his own defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, while seeking advice on whether to launch a military strike against Iran, according to a report.
An unnamed U.S. official told The Washington Post that the president is instead turning to a couple of four-star generals for guidance on whether to join Israel in attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities, with the head of the Pentagon being largely left out.
“Nobody is talking to Hegseth,” the official said. “There is no interface operationally between Hegseth and the White House at all.”
Speculation is mounting that Trump may be willing to start a war with Iran to prevent it from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Trump has already signed off on attack plans but has not yet given the final go-ahead to execute them, CBS News reported.
When asked if the U.S. was getting closer to striking Iran’s nuclear facilities at the White House on Wednesday, Trump less than helpfully replied: “I may do it. I may not do it.”
Hegseth, a former Fox News host whose lack of military experience raised eyebrows when he was picked to lead the Pentagon, does not appear to be convincing Trump to make a decision one way or the other.
Instead, the president is leaning more heavily on top military brass like four-star General Erik Kurilla, nicknamed “The Gorilla,” who leads U.S. Central Command and oversees operations in the Middle East, according to the Post.
Also advising Trump is General Dan Caine, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the nation’s highest-ranking military officer. Both generals are said to be providing Trump their input on Iran, while Hegseth and his team remain largely out of the loop.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said the claims that Hegseth has been frozen out are “totally false.”
“Secretary Hegseth and the entire national security team are doing a great job advancing the President’s foreign policy goals, and they are consistently keeping him apprised on updates in the Middle East,” Kelly told The Daily Beast.
A source also told the Daily Beast that Hegseth has been present for every national security briefing surrounding Iran, and that Trump “cares deeply about his point of view.”
A similar denial was issued by Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell.
“The Secretary is speaking with the President multiple times a day and has been with the President in the Situation Room this week,” Parnell told The Washington Post. “Secretary Hegseth is providing the leadership the Department of Defense and our Armed Forces need, and he will continue to work diligently in support of President Trump’s peace-through-strength agenda.”
Hegseth isn’t the only senior official reported to have been snubbed by Trump during the Iran crisis. Trump has taken issue with Tulsi Gabbard, his director of national intelligence, over several controversies relating to her and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, according to the Post.
A video she posted on social media on June 10, in which she spoke out against “political elite warmongers,” was said to have angered Trump, with him later confronting her in front of others at the White House by saying: “I saw the video, and I didn’t like it,” a source told the Post.
A spokesperson disputed that she is not fully engaged in advising Trump, with an ODNI press secretary telling the Post that Gabbard “remains focused on her mission: providing accurate and actionable intelligence to the President, cleaning up the Deep State, and keeping the American people safe, secure, and free.”
