In a combative press conference, the Pentagon chief dodged questions about the goals of the US military’s Iran operation
Leave it to Pete Hegseth, the ex-Fox News host now leading the Pentagon, to reframe the massive US-Israeli military operation in Iran as an act of resistance against political correctness: the first based regime-change war of the Maga era.
In a combative press conference at the Pentagon on Monday, Hegseth brought his anti-PC ethos to defend exactly what Donald Trump has said he did not want: to embroil the US in a major intervention in the Middle East with no clear timeline for exit.
But this won’t be like the last generation’s wars, Hegseth insisted. Operation Epic Fury was being fought “on our terms, with maximum authorities”, and without our “traditional allies who wring their hands and clutch their pearls hemming and hawing about the use of force”.
When it comes to war fighting, the Trump administration are the children of the US forever wars in the Middle East. Both Hegseth and JD Vance served in Iraq, and Trump has often prided himself on being a persistent critic of that war.
