Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine were “disappointed” by the idea of a U.S.-negotiated ceasefire with Iran, President Trump said Tuesday.
Hegseth and Caine were “the only two people that were quite disappointed” the U.S.-Israeli war against Tehran may soon come to an end, Trump said in the Oval Office following the swearing in of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
“I think this thing’s going to be settled very soon and they go, ‘Oh, that’s too bad.’ Pete didn’t want it to be settled,” Trump said.
“They were not interested in settlement. They were interested in just winning this thing,” he added.
Trump has repeatedly given contrasting signals as to the potential length and scope of the war, which is now in its fourth week. At one moment he suggested talks are taking place that could have the conflict quickly coming to an end, while suggesting at another that new attacks could take place on Tehran’s energy infrastructure should negotiations fall through.
On Tuesday he declared victory given Iran’s degraded military capability and asserted a regime change had happened, as most of the country’s top leaders had been killed in the bombing campaign. Iran’s supreme leader was among those killed, though his son has now been appointed the new supreme leader.
“You know, I don’t like to say this, we’ve won this, because this war has been won, the only one that likes to keep it going is the fake news,” Trump said, taking a swipe at media coverage of the war, which has threatened to engulf the Middle East.
Hegseth, who was also in the room, said the Defense Department “sees ourselves as part of this negotiation as well. We negotiate with bombs.”
Since the start of the war on Feb. 28, 13 U.S. service members have died and another 290 have been wounded. Of those injured, 35 have yet to return to duty, according to U.S. Central Command spokesperson Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins.
