In a different Washington, under a different president, a return to the well-worn playbook of all-out sanctions to counter Iran might have been the signal for a publicity-hungry US secretary of defense to adopt a lower profile.<\/p>\n
But these are no ordinary times. And Pete Hegseth<\/a> is no ordinary defense secretary.<\/p>\n Barely a week after the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, unleashed a supposed \u201ceconomic D-day\u201d<\/a> aimed at crushing the regime in Tehran under the weight of commercial pressures, Hegseth once again returned to the limelight \u2013 and the center of controversy.<\/p>\n The former Fox News host usurped Bessent from center stage as the conflict with Iran reverted to open warfare and discontent at the Pentagon was laid bare once more.<\/p>\n Turf wars within Hegseth\u2019s own fiefdom resurfaced with the resignation of the army secretary, fresh revelations of blocked promotions and leaked disclosures of resistance from military top brass of extended deployments to the Middle East.<\/p>\n While the Pentagon insists that any suggestion the defense department is in disarray under Hegseth is \u201ccompletely baseless\u201d, alarm over his conduct in the role \u2013 and the implications \u2013 has not merely been expressed by Hegseth\u2019s political opponents.<\/p>\n \u201cThe secretary of defense is a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States and the world,\u201d said Randy Manner, a retired major general in the US national guard \u2013 in which Hegseth also served \u2013 and member of National Security Leaders for America (NSL4A), a group of former military leaders. \u201cHe has done more harm to the national security of the United States than any secretary of defense since the country was created.\u201d<\/p>\n Thom Tillis, the Republican senator from North Carolina, who is stepping down from the US Senate after clashes with Donald Trump, bluntly urged the US president this week to fire his defense secretary.<\/p>\n \u201cI have never witnessed more inept management of the brave men and women who serve our country,\u201d Tillis wrote on social media. \u201cHe is intimidated by competence and retreats to ginning up culture wars instead of soberly attending to the vital work of our national defense and the health and wellbeing of our fighting force.\u201d<\/p>\n After a month-long lull, the resumption of strikes on Iranian targets near the strait of Hormuz meanwhile renewed questions over just what the US wants to achieve in its war with the Islamic regime, which Trump and his defense secretary once loudly vowed to topple.<\/p>\n The strikes, on mainland Iran as well as Iranian islands in the Gulf, caused multiple casualties. In one incident, Iranian media reported that five people, including a six-year-old child, were killed in the southern city of Kuhestak when a missile struck a wedding party.<\/p>\n Iranian authorities labelled the deaths a war crime. The episode had echoes of strikes in the city of Minab on the first day of the war on 28 February, when more than 150 people, including 120 children, were killed when missiles hit an elementary school. The US has not formally admitted responsibility, although officials have said the incident is under military investigation.<\/p>\n The latest strikes were quickly followed by disclosures that Hegseth had extended military deployments in the Middle East<\/a>, where the US currently maintains 50,000 troops and 19 warships \u2013 partly to enforce a naval blockade on Iran \u2013 into the middle of next year<\/p>\n The extensions were ordered even after several commanders in other sectors voiced objections, formally known as \u201cnon-concurs\u201d, to the deployments, arguing that they could leave the US at risk of being unable to meet its commitments in other areas, while subjecting forces to the additional strain of being at sea for too long.<\/p>\n The non-concurs were recorded in the Secretary of Defense Orders Book of 14 August, a classified document whose contents were leaked and reported by the Washington Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2018The past six months has failed\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not sure what the strategy is here,\u201d Kevin Carroll, a former army colonel and military intelligence officer who served in the offices of the defense secretary and joint chiefs of staff, said of the war on Iran. \u201cWhat\u2019s the enemy\u2019s center of gravity that we\u2019re going after?<\/p>\n \u201cWe tried decapitating their leadership. That didn\u2019t work. We tried going after their missile program. We were not able to destroy it. Tried sinking the navy, but they still maintain a mining capability.<\/p>\n \u201cWe could easily take out their energy infrastructure. But that would drive the price of oil much, much higher, and lead to retaliatory attacks on the energy infrastructure of our Gulf allies. It\u2019s not clear what this target set is intended to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Nate Swanson, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a former White House and state department adviser on Iran, said Hegseth\u2019s long-term deployment orders reflected the administration\u2019s decision to embrace a policy of long-term economic blockade.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a recognition of the fact that the past six months has failed, but they don\u2019t know what to do,\u201d argued Swanson, who suggested that Trump was attracted by the idea of abandoning the conflict, but wanted to do so in way that enabled him to project strength.<\/p>\n As the war drags on, Hegseth stands accused of being insufficiently engaged with such grave policy matters, preferring instead to focus on \u201ccultural\u201d issues \u2013 sacrificing the careers of talented career officers in the process \u2013 and his future political ambitions.<\/p>\n The defense secretary, who has evaded awkward questions or scrutiny by not holding a formal Pentagon briefing since 5 May,<\/p>\n has reportedly<\/a> told associates that he is considering a bid for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination.<\/p>\n In the midst of a burgeoning trade war between the US and Canada, Hegseth \u2013 who has previously railed against \u201cfat\u201d generals and instituted testosterone tests for service personnel \u2013 found time to wade in by apparently \u201cbody shaming\u201d two Canadian female teenage cadets<\/a>.<\/p>\n The social media post attracted a storm of criticism. In a podcast<\/a>, Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman who is now a Democrat, accused Hegseth of \u201cfucking online harassment\u201d and denounced the defense secretary as a \u201cpunk\u201d.<\/p>\n Tensions over Hegseth\u2019s priorities reached a head this week when the army secretary, Dan Driscoll \u2013 a friend and ally of Vice-President JD Vance \u2013 resigned<\/a> after repeatedly clashing with Hegseth over blocked promotions and purges of senior commanders on flimsy pretexts.<\/p>\n double quotation markThe rest of the military is significantly degraded.Randy Manner<\/p>\n A large proportion of those blocked or fired have been black or female, in line with Hegseth\u2019s vocal crusade against \u201cwoke\u201d DEI (diversity, equity and inclusiveness) initiatives. In the latest of a series of purges, the New York Times reported<\/a> that Hegseth had blocked the promotions of seven officers to the two-star general rank.<\/p>\n