Secretary of War Pete Hegseth had no patience for reporters asking about timelines for the US war with Iran.
President Donald Trump told the Daily Mail on Sunday that he expected the conflict to last for four weeks or less.
Hegseth refused to confirm that timeline or provide any others.
He insisted that unlike previous administrations, this one would not be sharing minutiae about war plans, pointing out that such transparency would provide information to US adversaries.
Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine held a joint press briefing at the Pentagon on Monday morning following weekend strikes in the Middle East amid the collapse of Iran nuclear peace talks.
General Caine said that the US strike on Iran was not a one-day operation, but also did not clarify how long the conflict could be ongoing.
‘President Trump put a four week timeline on it. Do you think that’s wrong?’ a reporter at the briefing asked Hegseth.
The Pentagon Chief shot back with: ‘It’s a typical NBC sort of gotcha question.’
‘President Trump has all the latitude in the world to talk about how long it may or may not take — four weeks, two weeks, six weeks. It could move up, it could move back,’ Hegseth snapped at the NBC reporter.
‘We’re going to execute at his command the objectives we set out to achieve.’
‘We figured it will be four weeks or so,’ the president told the Daily Mail exclusively on Sunday. ‘It’s always been about a four-week process so – as strong as it is, it’s a big country, it’ll take four weeks – or less.’
He also said on the call that he expects more US casualties after three service members were killed in the fighting over the weekend. The death of a fourth US soldier was announced by the Pentagon Monday morning.
‘They’re great people,’ Trump said of the fallen. ‘And, you know, we expect that to happen, unfortunately. Could happen continuous – it could happen again.’
Reporters at the Pentagon on Monday sought some clarity on US plans for the conflict, questioning how long it could last and if US boots would be deployed on the ground in Iran.
‘I don’t want to talk specifics because that would tip the enemy off,’ Caine said, reiterating the same sentiment Hegseth shared at the press briefing.
Amid US operations, an Israeli strike over the weekend killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ending his 36-year reign in Iran.
But Trump revealed that the ‘very good choices’ he had in mind to replace the Ayatollah were no longer viable because the brutal firefight ‘knocked out most of the candidates.’
