Trump Reveals Pete Hegseth Was Disappointed by Iran Talks After SecDef Declares ‘We Negotiate With Bombs!’

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth declared that the Defense Department is negotiating with bombs shortly before President Donald Trump remarked that Hegseth was disappointed the U.S. is engaged in talks with Iran on Tuesday.

Trump took questions after the swearing-in ceremony for Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin in the Oval Office on Tuesday, and at one point, asked Hegseth to make a statement about the ongoing conflict between the U.S. and Iran.

“Pete, do you want to give about a three-minute statement on how we’re doing in this, as I call it, military operation?” inquired Trump. “People don’t like me using the word war, so I won’t. But the Democrats call it a war. How about a little statement? I think he’s done a very good job.”

Hegseth happily obliged:

Well, thank you, Mr. President. You’re spot on. Never in history has a modern military, Iran had a modern military, a modern navy, a modern air force, modern air defenses, leadership, massive bunker, never has a modern military been so rapidly and historically obliterated, defeated from day one with overwhelming firepower. The air campaign that we’ve conducted, that Israel’s conducted alongside us was one for the history books, truly. And it’s because we have a president of the United States that when he sends his war fighters out to fight, he unties their hands to actually go out and close with and destroy the enemy as viciously as possible from moment one.

And that’s why we see ourselves as part of this negotiation as well. We negotiate with bombs! You have a choice as we loiter over the top of Tehran, as the president talked about, about your future. The president has made it clear that you will not have a nuclear weapon. The War Department agrees, our job is to ensure that, and so we’re keeping our hand on that throttle as long as, as hard as is necessary to ensure the interest of the United States of America are achieved on that battlefield. This is not Iraq and Afghanistan. This is a not a president who’s interested in vague end states. He’s been very clear with us about what we need to accomplish, creating the conditions for them never to have a nuclear capability, and that’s exactly what we’re doing in historic fashion. Thank you, Mr. President.

“You know, the only two people that were quite disappointed, I don’t want to say this, but I have to,” began Trump after stepping back in front of the podium. “I said, ‘Pete and General [Dan] Raizin Caine, I think this thing is going to be settled very soon.’ Here they go: ‘Oh, that’s too bad.’ Pete didn’t want it to be settled. It’s-, these guys are doing a great job. That’s a good attitude, though, Tom, right? They were not interested in settlement, they were interested in just winning this thing.”

Watch above via Fox News.

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