Trump Reveals Pete Hegseth Was Disappointed by Iran Talks After SecDef Declares 'We Negotiate With Bombs!' [View all]

Source: MEDIAite

Mar 24th, 2026, 4:32 pm


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!