The president said in the Oval Office, following the swearing in of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, that the Pentagon chief and Caine were “the only two people that were quite disappointed” the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran might wrap up soon.
“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,” the president said.
“They were not interested in settlement," Trump said. "They were interested in just winning this thing."
The president has provided shifting signals to the potential scope and length of the Middle East conflict, which has now crossed into its fourth week. Trump has previously indicated that negotiations are happening that could halt the war, while also indicating at other times that new strikes on Iran could happen if talks falter.
Trump declared victory on Tuesday, considering the U.S. military has severely degraded Iran's military and argued that regime change already took place, with many of Iran's leaders being killed by airstrikes.
“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,” the president said while slamming the news media for its coverage of the war.
Hegseth said the Pentagon “sees ourselves as part of this negotiation as well. We negotiate with bombs.”
Read full report at TheHill.com.
