At the end of a brief and subdued Pentagon press conference on the Iran war, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cut off a reporter from Zero Hedge for suggesting that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu will “pull” Donald Trump back into escalating the conflict.
Toward the end of a long question from a reporter identifying himself as being from Zero Hedge, the former Fox News personality was asked, “Netanyahu put this on Twitter, Israel's head of Mossad said Israel's goals are not finished until the Iranian government collapses,” followed by “… how can you ensure America doesn't get roped back into a war if that comes? And secondly, with Netanyahu comfortable tweeting something like that out? And also, Netanyahu has continued bombing Lebanon despite President Trump, I would say your —.”
“Your question is based on the false premise that somehow President Trump is being pulled in by Prime Minister Netanyahu to any of these actions, and that's where you're going,” Hegseth snapped.
"Just to be clear,” he lectured. “ President Trump has led at every step of this based on his view of American interests and America First. And we're grateful that Israelis have been very capable partners at many steps of this. And they may have some objectives that, at times, that are slightly different than ours, but there's only one hand on the wheel ultimately directing this, whether it's Project Freedom or previously Operation Epic Fury, and it's President Trump.”
“So we're grateful for their input, their insights, the existential nature of the threat they face from an Iranian bomb, the capabilities that they can bring to that,” he tersely added. “But ultimately, the coordination will happen with the leadership of President Trump.”
He then ended the press conference.