Hegseth Scoffs at 60 Minutes Questioning If Iran Was an Imminent Threat: ‘Silly and Academic’

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth scoffed at CBS News’s Major Garrett when he asked whether Iran was an imminent threat to the U.S. when Operation Epic Fury launched nine days ago.

Garrett interviewed Hegseth for a war update on Sunday’s 60 Minutes.

“It has been said that the Israelis through Benjamin Netanyahu provided on February 23rd key information about intelligence they had developed about the likely whereabouts of Ali Khamenei and many in his inner circle,” Garrett began. “That the U.S. then checked it out through the CIA, confirmed that, and that was an opportunity that presented itself to the president. And that was the precipitating factor for this war. That’s the way it’s been reported. Is that accurate, Mr. Secretary?”

“President Trump’s interests have been our interests and advancing those from the beginning,” Hegseth answered.

“And, so, the fact that intelligence was gathered, whether from Israeli or ours — and always checked by our intel agencies to make sure it’s accurate — a lot of times the best way to start operations is a trigger-based or conditions-based moment,” Hegseth said. And you can work together on whether that makes sense. But we were always controlling the throttle about whether or not to go or not go, and ultimately, to advance American interests and protect American lives.”

Garrett asserted, “Some might look at that sequence of events and say well, it was an opportunity more than an imminent threat.”

“I think much of that discussion is silly and academic,” Hegseth scoffed. “They’ve been killing us for…47 years. They have unabated nuclear ambitions. And when we obliterated their nuclear program at the end of the 12-day war in Operation Midnight Hammer, they should have come to the table, and say, ‘Okay, we get it, you mean business. We’re not gonna have nukes,’ and they haven’t.”

Garrett added that, “Despite the administration’s claim that it obliterated their nuclear infrastructure in June, they estimate Iran still has more than 970 pounds of nearly bomb-grade uranium.”

The New York Times reported Sunday that U.S. intelligence believes Iran’s store of highly-enriched uranium that’s used to manufacture nuclear weapons could still be retrieved from the bombed-out facility at Isfahan.

“It is unclear how quickly Iran could move the uranium, which is in gas form and stored in canisters,” the report said.

Watch the clip above via CBS News’s 60 Minutes.

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