U.S. on brink of getting dragged into Israel’s war on Iran but ‘nobody is talking to Hegseth’
As the United States moves additional military forces into the Middle East to help defend Israel from Iranian counterstrikes, protect U.S. assets and possibly launch bunker-busting bombs at Iran’s buried nuclear sites, Trump is relying more on a pair of four-star generals than on Hegseth, his defense secretary, according to three U.S. officials. The generals are Caine, the Joint Chiefs chairman; and Army Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, commander of U.S. Central Command, which has operational authority for the Middle East.
Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell said it is “completely false” that the defense secretary is disengaged.
“The Secretary is speaking with the President multiple times a day each day and has been with the President in the Situation Room this week,” Parnell said in a statement. “Secretary Hegseth is providing the leadership the Department of Defense and our Armed Forces need, and he will continue to work diligently in support of President Trump’s peace through strength agenda.”
But two current U.S. officials said Kurilla and Caine have taken the lead on discussing military options with Trump, largely sidestepping Hegseth and his team at the Pentagon. “Nobody is talking to Hegseth,” one official said. “There is no interface operationally between Hegseth and the White House at all.”
Kurilla has voiced support for an aggressive posture against Iran, which has backed militias in numerous attacks on U.S. forces in the Middle East, including a drone attack last year in Jordan that killed three American soldiers. Still, Kurilla has not leaned one way or another in whether to strike Iran and has presented a wide range of options to the president, one of the U.S. officials said.
Caine has also provided feedback to the president regarding the different scenarios of U.S. intervention, a defense official said, and is mindful of the second- and third-order effects that may take place. He is “focused on today and really interested in tomorrow,” the official said.
Hegseth was engaged early in his role as defense secretary, according to a person familiar with the matter. But the fallout from the Signalgate controversy, during which he shared sensitive operational details on a group chat that inadvertently included a prominent journalist, and his preoccupation with leaks and distrust in the Pentagon have distracted him from substantial policy matters, the person said. [Continue reading…]