Between drinks.....

Hegseth says US voted against getting "dragged" into wars, but leaves Iran timing to Trump

By Michael Williams

Americans’ disgust with the seemingly endless military quagmires in the Middle East over the past two decades prompted them to vote for a “different approach” by electing President Donald Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at the Pentagon on Tuesday.

But he also said the end of the current war with Iran, which is on its 11th day and so far has cost seven American service members their lives, is still being determined by Trump.

“I understand those concerns, because I’ve heard from a lot of people who went through — I went through — 20 years of those wars myself, worried about getting dragged in, worried about mission creep, worried about nation building or democracy expansion, that’s never the perspective the president has pursued on this” he said.

“Just because previous presidents and previous secretaries have decided to just pour more resources and more people in toward some unguided end state doesn’t mean that the way the world needs to look today,” he added.

“In fact, the American people voted for a different approach. But what the president also stated from the beginning is Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon.”