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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Andrew Roth in Washington

Pete Hegseth sets the tone for Trump’s politically incorrect war on Iran

Pete Hegseth Donald Trump Iran United States Ayatollah Ali Khamenei JD Vance Pentagon
a man speaks into a microphone to a room full of people
Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, speaks during a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington DC on 02 March 2026. Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA

Leave it to Pete Hegseth, the ex-Fox News host now leading the Pentagon, to reframe the massive US-Israeli military operation in Iran as an act of resistance against political correctness: the first based regime-change war of the Maga era.

In a combative press conference at the Pentagon on Monday, Hegseth brought his anti-PC ethos to defend exactly what Donald Trump has said he did not want: to embroil the US in a major intervention in the Middle East with no clear timeline for exit.

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