Pete Hegseth Roasted For Claiming 'We Didn't Start' War On Iran

The defense secretary also claimed Monday that Iran was“not negotiating” and said it was“stalling” in the talks with the aim of rebuilding missile stockpiles.“

“To be clear,” said journalist Jeremy Scahill of Drop Site News,“he is claiming the US went to war because Iran has ballistic missiles and drones it has used as a deterrent or to respond to US/Israeli attacks.”

Drop Site noted that Hegseth made no mention of“the 1953 US-backed coup in Iran,” US support for autocratic rule there from 1953-79,“or that the US and Israel launched the February 28 strikes.”

On the UK talk radio show“Leading Britain's Conversation,” British journalist Jon Sopel said Hegseth was making“the exact argument that [former President] George W. Bush made in 2003 with the weapons of mass destruction and 'They could be launched in 45 minutes.'”

Promises to end the US government's penchant for embarking on endless regime change wars, added Sopel, were part of“what propelled Donald Trump to the presidency, and yet Donald Trump and [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu have launched these strikes against Iran.”

The defense secretary attempted to contrast the operation in Iran – dubbed Operation Epic Fury by the US military – to protracted wars like those the US has waged in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The conflict will not be an“endless war,” Hegseth said.

He claimed at one point in the briefing that the clear-cut objective of the attacks is to“destroy the missile threats, destroy the navy, no nukes” and scoffed at a reporter's question about Trump's Sunday statement in which the president said he expected the conflict to be resolved in“four weeks or less.”

“President Trump has all the latitude in the world to talk about how long it may or not take. Four weeks, two weeks, six weeks. It could move up, it could move back,” said Hegseth.

Hegseth spoke alongside Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, who appeared to temper expectations of a quick resolution to the war started by the US and Israel.

“To be clear... this is not a single overnight operation,” Caine said.“The military objectives [US Central Command] and the Joint Force have been tasked with will take some time to achieve, and in some cases will be difficult and gritty work.”