Skip to Main ContentHegseth Dismisses Pope's Iran War Criticism, Says U.S. Has Legal Authority To Fight TehranDefense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended President Donald Trump's war in Iran, dismissing Pope Leo XIV's criticism of the conflict."Pope's going to do his thing, that's fine," Hegseth said. "We know what our mission is. We know what authority we have. We're very clear about that.""We've got lawyers all over the place looking at what we're doing and why we're doing it, and giving us every authority necessary under the Constitution and under our laws to execute it," he added. "We feel very confident across the spectrum about what we're doing and why we're doing it and the legal justification that we're following in order to do it."See All UpdatesClose