‘Pete is not speaking truth to the president’: Experts sound alarm over Hegseth’s war messaging to Trump

NewsWorldAmericasUS politics‘Pete is not speaking truth to the president’: Experts sound alarm over Hegseth’s war messaging to TrumpThe Pentagon chief has said Iran has ‘no air defenses’ and its missiles and drones were ‘being destroyed or shot out of the sky’Rachel Dobkin in New York Tuesday 07 April 2026 22:18 BSTBookmarkCommentsGo to commentsBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popover{"translations":{"comments":"Go to comments","share":"Share","copyLink":"Copy link","bookmark":"Bookmark","removeBookmark":"Remove bookmark"},"showComments":true,"showBookmark":true,"articleId":"b2953339","articleMeta":{"url":"https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/pete-hegseth-trump-iran-war-b2953339.html","title":"Experts sound alarm over Pete Hegseth’s messaging on Iran war to Trump"}}CloseUS airman’s ‘powerful’ first words after being shot down in Iran revealedSign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inboxGet our free Inside Washington emailGet our free Inside Washington emailEmail*SIGN UPI would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice{"className":"sc-1ge0fwe-0","newsletterData":{"regSourceNewsletter":"IND_INSIDE_WASHINGTON","regTitle":"Inside Washington","subscriptionGroup":"inside_washington","subscriptionGroupId":"af764e04-87eb-45e6-a84b-a7455ba70a1e","type":"inside_washington","pathPrefix":"/news/world/americas/us-politics","associatedAuthors":["Eric Garcia","John Bowden"],"title":"Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox","mobileTitle":"Get our free Inside Washington email","imageSrc":"https://static.independent.co.uk/static-assets/images/newsletters/insideWashington1_1.png","label":"I would like to receive morning headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts by email","newsletterKey":"receiveInsideWashingtonNews","regSourceSection":"US politics","regSourceMethod...