Angry Hegseth interrupts to save general from tough ABC News question about Iran
April 08, 2026
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insulted and cut off ABC News reporter Luis Martinez during a press briefing on Wednesday morning after the Senior Pentagon journalist put Gen. Dan Caine on the spot with a probing question about the Iran war.
After earlier calling another reporter “rude” for attempting to ask a question during the press availability, Hegseth broke from his usual habit of calling on friendly reporters from conservative outlets to allow Martinez to ask the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff about the Iran ceasefire.
“First, a question to the general,” the ABC journalist began. “Sir, in your personal opinion, were the risks of the Strait of Hormuz being closed because of the conflict? Were they mitigated early enough in part of the decision-making process that led up to the decision to take action against Iran? And in your opinion, is Iran in control of the Strait of Hormuz? We just heard the secretary say that Iran is letting ships through.”
He continued by asking, “In your opinion, sir, how can the US ensure safe passage?”
Speaking to Hegseth, he asked, “And also, you said earlier that the president ‘chose mercy,’ but you yourself had said three weeks ago that we will give no quarter; no quarter to Iranian troops. How do you correlate those two?”
Hegseth shot back, ”I try to be nice up here, but you did listen to what I said, right? I laid out the objectives. We believe we accomplished them. And it's a historic military victory. And President Trump has the option, as the commander in chief, to compel an adversary to the table, which is precisely what he did.”
Given his chance to answer, Caine replied, “There's a lot in that question. I'd love to take that offline and answer it, but it was... I'm struggling to find exactly what your question was. And that's probably me, not you. Okay?”
As Martinez attempted to re-frame his question, Hegseth sneered, “It was an indictment framed as a question. So you're forgiven for not understanding,” to Caine before turning to another reporter with “Go ahead.”
As Martinez protested, Hegseth snapped, “No, you've had your chance.”
In a following segment, MS NOW’s Jonathan Lemire called the back and forth a “complete meltdown” by Hegseth.
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