Pete Hegseth brings combative style as face of Trump’s war in Iran

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Lisa LambertWashington

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Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, a military veteran and former Fox News host, has brought a combative style to his moment in the spotlight as de facto spokesman for the war in Iran.

He speaks of how Operation Epic Fury is “crushing the enemy”, whom he labels “terrorist cowards”.

“We have only just begun to hunt,” Hegseth, 45, told one news conference of the US-Israeli strikes, which killed several leaders of the Islamic republic.

“We are punching them while they’re down, which is exactly how it should be,” he said.

The second-youngest defence secretary in US history, Hegseth has weathered controversies, including revelations he inadvertently divulged details of air strikes in Yemen to a reporter on an app chat, and claims of misconduct aired during his confirmation hearings.

But as the public face of President Donald Trump’s largest military action yet in the Middle East, the former morning show host’s media skills have come to the fore.

Whereas his predecessors spoke in more measured, technocratic language, Hegseth presents himself as an unapologetic frontman for the world’s most powerful military.

Occupying a cabinet position last year rebranded as secretary of war, he projects a sense of invincible American might and what he calls the “warrior ethos”.

Hegseth sometimes quotes Christian scripture and refers to the military as “my American brothers”.

Matthew Walling, chief executive of the American Security Project, a think tank, told the BBC: “There’s a degree of machismo to how he speaks, and that’s part of the public image that he presents of himself.”

Hegseth’s confidence and conviction may appeal to Americans “who are looking for certainty”, he said.

The Minneapolis-born, Princeton and Harvard graduate served as an infantry platoon leader in Guantanamo Bay and Iraq, where he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal.

He later deployed to Afghanistan as a counterinsurgency instructor in Kabul.

Hegseth’s political experience was previously limited to an unsuccessful 2012 run for the Republican Senate nomination in Minnesota. After his military service ended, he returned home and briefly led two veterans’ charities.

But it was as co-host of the Fox & Friends weekend show for eight years that he caught the eye of one regular viewer: Donald Trump.

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He praised Hegseth’s 2024 book, The War on Warriors, for exposing “the leftwing betrayal” of America’s military.

Yet he barely won confirmation as defence secretary, even though the Senate is controlled by Trump’s fellow Republicans.

The thrice-married father-of-four was grilled about allegations of sexual misconduct, infidelity and heavy drinking, which he cast as a smear campaign.

Critics sought to link his tattoos of symbols from the Crusades with far-right extremism. Hegseth said the body ink merely reflected his Christian faith.

Some also questioned if he had the experience to run a department with a nearly $1tn budget - the largest in the US government – and three million employees.

During Operation Epic Fury, Trump and some members of his administration have been accused of failing to articulate a cohesive rationale for military action in Iran.

Hegseth, though, has repeatedly laid out the operation’s objectives: to eliminate Iran’s weapons, to destroy Iran’s navy and to ensure Iran cannot make nuclear weapons.

But some accused him of insensitivity when he took issue with reporting on US casualties, saying: “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.”

Recent polls indicate many Republican voters approve of Hegseth. Not everyone is impressed, though.

Brett Bruen, president of the Global Situation Room, a crisis communications agency, and a former diplomat with the Obama administration, acknowledged the defence secretary is a skilled communicator.

But he criticised Hegseth’s “brashness, the bravado, the bulldozing of questions” in briefings.

“We’re at war and we need a leader at the Pentagon who tells us what is happening and why it is happening and what we should be doing to prepare for what comes next,” Bruen told the BBC.

“And he seems incapable of providing that basic information.”

Hegseth faced his first controversy soon after being sworn in, when a journalist was mistakenly added by another official to a Signal messaging group in which the defence secretary posted details of plans for an attack on the Iran-backed Houthi group in Yemen.

Members of Congress and others called for him to be fired, saying he had endangered US military members and flouted protocols.

Hegseth, however, clung to his job.

A personal bugbear of his has been ending what he calls “woke garbage” in the military.

During confirmation hearings, the culture warrior was lambasted by Democrats for arguing that diversity policies had degraded the military’s fighting capability.

Hegseth has renamed bases and severed defence ties with universities over diversity programmes, including his alma mater, Harvard.

He again drew scrutiny over US raids on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific.

The Pentagon chief rejected claims he gave an order to “kill them all” during a follow-up military strike on a vessel.

In a video, Democratic lawmaker veterans urged the military to refuse any illegal orders.

Hegseth called the clip treasonous and took steps to demote retired Navy Captain and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly.

The legal battle over Kelly – one of several lawsuits against Hegseth’s defence department – grinds on.

His Pentagon has also rewritten its rules of engagement with the media, imposing new reporting restrictions and banning photojournalists for pictures of Hegseth deemed “unflattering”.

But the defence secretary appears intent on showing that he – like his vision for the US military – is not the type to back down from a fight.

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