Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s “Secretary of War”, has been a controversial figure since his appointment last year, but his eyebrow-raising remarks have only become more remarkable since the start of the US-Israeli air strikes on Iran.
Hegseth, a former Fox News co-host who served in Iraq, has relentlessly pushed an ultra-patriotic message of American excellence and hatred towards the enemy. “For 47 years these barbaric savages in the Iranian regime have murdered our brothers in arms, my guys, your guys, our guys, through their terrorist proxies and cowardly attacks,” he said in a Pentagon briefing on Tuesday.
The 45-year-old then offered reassurance that the war was on track, asserting that “it’s a laser-focused, maximum authority mission delivered with overwhelming and unrelenting precision”.
From posting Call of Duty style combat footage to criticising the press for reporting on the deaths of US soldiers, Hegseth has become known for his increasingly violent and aggressive rhetoric.
Wars should not be ‘politically correct’
Hegseth’s statements have drawn attention for how they appear to glorify conflict.
He has asserted that wars should not be “politically correct”, and has criticised “traditional allies” that have been less than full-throated in their support for the US conflict, mocking the way they “clutch their pearls, hemming and hawing about the use of force” – a comment seen as aimed at countries including the UK.
The US Defence Secretary has pulled no punches in his threats to Iran, claiming America will rain “death and destruction from the sky all day long”. He also highlighted the gulf between the US and Iranian militaries, stating: “This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is not a fair fight. We are punching them while they’re down, which is exactly how it should be.”
Hegseth has said that Iranian leaders ‘are toast and they know it’ (Photo: Eva Marie Uzcategui/AFP via Getty Images)Hegseth has sought to demonstrate the power of the US military, posting countless videos of strikes on Iranian targets on X, often with a provocative caption, such as, “If you kill Americans, if you threaten Americans anywhere on earth, we will hunt you down without apology and without hesitation and we will kill you.”
During a Pentagon briefing last Wednesday, Hegseth said that Iranian leaders “are toast and they know it. Or at least soon enough they will know it. America is winning – decisively, devastatingly and without mercy.”
Celebrating the sinking of the Dena
Last week, Hegseth reposted a video from the White House that interspersed clips from popular films and TV shows including Deadpool, John Wick and Breaking Bad with himself and combat footage from Iran.
Along with clips from the films Gladiator and Braveheart, he posted footage of the torpedoing of the Iranian warship IRIS Dena off the coast of Sri Lanka, which resulted in the deaths of at least 87 crewmembers. The video was accompanied by the caption “JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY”.
Questions have been raised about the morality of the attack as the vessel was in international waters and was not deemed an imminent threat to the US as it was carrying only light munitions for live-fire exercises and was largely defenceless.
JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY. pic.twitter.com/0502N6a3rL
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 6, 2026Hegseth confirmed the attack, adding: “An American submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters.”
“It was sunk by a torpedo, a quiet death – the first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II,” he added. “Like in that war, back when we were still the war department, we are fighting to win.”
‘Maximum lethality, not tepid legality’
In 2019, Hegseth defended US military personnel accused of war crimes, calling them “men who went into the most dangerous places on earth with a job to defend us, and made tough calls on a moment’s notice. They are not war criminals, they are warriors”.
He has also frequently called for a relaxation of laws and codes of conduct that he argues unduly restrain soldiers, and said he wants to prioritise “maximum lethality, not tepid legality”.
In his 2024 book, The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free, Hegseth said that he told soldiers under his command in Iraq to ignore legal advice about when they were permitted to kill enemy combatants under their rules of engagement.
‘There will be more casualties’
Seven US soldiers have been killed so far in the war against Iran. Hegseth has portrayed these losses as inevitable, saying that “things like this don’t happen without casualties. There will be more casualties”.
However, he has attacked the media for reporting on the deaths.
While discussing six army reservists who were killed in an Iranian attack on an operations centre in Kuwait last week, Hegseth said: “When a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it’s front page news. I get it. The press only wants to make the president look bad.”
He added that: “The terms of this war will be set by us at every step.”
Supporting another crusade
The New Yorker reported that Hegseth was forced to step down from leadership roles in two non-profit organisations for veterans after whistleblowers raised claims of excessive drinking, financial mismanagement and improper behaviour.
A drunken Hegseth allegedly chanted “kill all Muslims, kill all Muslims” in a bar in Ohio in 2014.
Hegseth also has a tattoo on his chest of a Jerusalem Cross and one on his arm with the phrase “Deus vult”, meaning “God wills it”. Both are linked to the Crusades and have been revived in recent years by far-right groups. The symbols appeared on clothing and flags carried by some January 6 rioters.
Hesgeth’s tattoos include the Jerusalem Cross, the US flag and a rifle (Photo: Instagram/petehegseth)In his 2020 book, American Crusade, he wrote that those who benefit from Western civilisation should “thank a crusader”.
He also suggested that democracy was insufficient. “Voting is a weapon, but it’s not enough. We don’t want to fight, but, like our fellow Christians one thousand years ago, we must.”
Strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats
Hegseth has played a key role in the Trump administration’s war on drugs, particularly in its campaign against alleged drug-smuggling boats off the coast of Latin America.
The strikes have killed more than 150 people, with their legality questioned by many. One operation was put under particular scrutiny when two survivors were then deliberately killed in a “double-tap” attack.
Hegseth initially dismissed the reporting as a fabrication, but later confirmed the basic facts during a Cabinet meeting, saying he acted in the “fog of war” but “didn’t stick around” to observe the rest of the mission.
The Washington Post reported that Hegseth gave orders to “kill everybody” who had survived an operation on 2 September in a follow-up strike.
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The controversy has seemingly not dampened Hegseth’s resolve.
He recently claimed that: “Last month, we went a few weeks without targeting a single boat. Why? Well, because we couldn’t find a whole lot of boats to sink, and that’s the whole point is to establish deterrence from narco-terrorists who have been able to traffic almost unfettered.”
Hegseth has previously called on Latin American countries to aid the US in its war on drugs. He said they should be “Christian nations, under God, proud of our shared heritage with strong borders” and not be led astray by “radical narco-communism, anarcho-tyranny… and uncontrolled mass migration”.
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