Trump backs Pete Hegseth amid renewed tensions with Iran – as it happened

Asked by a reporter if he is frustrated with Pete Hegseth’s advice on Iran early on in the war, Trump expressed confidence in his defense secretary and said he thinks his Hegseth “has done a great job”.

Trump has said that Hegseth and others led him to believe that Iran was actively preparing to attack the United States if Washington did not strike first. They advised him that the situation with Iran was rapidly approaching “a point of no return” and advocated for pre-emptive military action.

Trump also claimed to reporters on Air Force One that Iran requested a meeting “through their surrogates and directly”.

double quotation markThey want to meet, and we’re meeting. Without what we did, they wouldn’t even be talking to us … They would not have requested the meeting if we were doing poorly. The only reason they want to meet is because we’ve been hitting them very hard.