{"id":1454,"date":"2025-06-27T03:36:06","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T03:36:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/hegseth-unleashes-on-the-press-as-he-defends-us-strike-on-iran\/"},"modified":"2025-06-27T03:36:06","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T03:36:06","slug":"hegseth-unleashes-on-the-press-as-he-defends-us-strike-on-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/hegseth-unleashes-on-the-press-as-he-defends-us-strike-on-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth unleashes on the press as he defends US strike on Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"
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US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has unleashed on journalists in a bizarre briefing at the Pentagon, saying their “hatred” of Donald Trump was behind efforts to verify the extent of the damage to the Fordow nuclear facility in Iran.<\/p>\n

Mr Hegseth appeared emotional over earlier reporting by CNN and The New York Times based on a leaked intelligence report that cast doubt on Mr Trump’s assertion that Iran’s nuclear facilities had been “obliterated”.<\/p>\n

There had been hopes Mr Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, would provide evidence of the impact of the strikes.<\/p>\n

Since the attack on Saturday night, local time, media organisations across the world have been scrambling to verify claims from the White House that the site had been obliterated, using satellite imagery to get a sense of the visible damage as well as Iran’s preparation.<\/p>\n

But in the press briefing, organised for 8am on Thursday, Mr Hegseth singled out the press corps, as well as individual reporters in the room.<\/p>\n

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US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force General Dan Caine took part in a combative briefing at the Pentagon  (Reuters: Idrees Ali<\/span>)<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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He even slammed Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin, saying she had been “about the worst”.<\/p>\n

“Specifically, you, the press corps, because you cheer against Trump so hard, it’s in your DNA and in your blood to cheer against Trump, because you want him not to be successful so bad, you have to cheer against the efficacy of these strikes,” Mr Hegseth said.<\/p>\n

“You have to hope maybe they weren’t effective, maybe the way the Trump administration has represented them isn’t true.<\/p>\n

“There are so many aspects of what our brave men and women did that, because of the hatred of this press corps, are undermined because your people are trying to leak and spin that it wasn’t successful. It’s irresponsible.”<\/p>\n

The preliminary assessment, parts of which were leaked to US press, reportedly found the weekend strikes only set back the country’s nuclear program by a few months.<\/p>\n

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Mr Hegseth said that leaked initial assessment was “low-confidence” and had been overtaken by intelligence showing Iran’s nuclear program was severely damaged by the strikes and that it would take years to rebuild.<\/p>\n

“You want to call it destroyed, you want to call it defeated, you want to call it obliterated, choose your word. This was a historically successful attack and we should celebrate it as Americans,” he said.<\/p>\n