Author: Fire Hegseth Over Iran War Failure — SkimNews
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- Pete Hegseth failed to advise President Trump that no viable air and missile-only military strategy could bring Iran's regime to its knees, violating the two conditions the author set when conditionally endorsing his nomination on NBC News on November 12, 2024.
- On March 4, Hegseth declared at the Pentagon podium that "America is winning decisively, devastatingly and without mercy" in Operation Epic Fury — an assessment the author calls objectively false given that six months in there is no path to victory short of full-scale ground invasion.
- The war has drained U.S. missile stockpiles — JASSM Long Range Cruise Missiles, Tomahawks, PAC-3 interceptors, and THAAD interceptors — to "alarmingly low levels," the author warns, endangering broader U.S. global security commitments.
- Hegseth claimed just days ago that "We've got no shortage of munitions" and that stockpiles can sustain the campaign as long as needed, even as President Trump reportedly blasted him at a Camp David meeting for running low on ammunition.
- Hegseth dismissed deployed troops' and their families' accounts of deteriorating morale and conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln as "fake news," contradicting sailors who disagree.
- President Trump publicly undercut Hegseth in late March, recalling that Hegseth was "the first one to speak up" and said "Let's do it" about launching the war.
Why it matters: With the Iran war past six months and no off-ramp short of full-scale ground invasion, the call to fire Hegseth puts midterm-election pressure on Trump to reshuffle his national security team. The depletion of key stockpiles — JASSM, Tomahawk, PAC-3, and THAAD interceptors — to what the author calls dangerous levels directly compromises U.S. ability to meet other global security commitments.
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