Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth excoriated reporters at a Pentagon press briefing on Thursday, accusing them of rooting for the failure of President Donald Trump and the military’s recent strikes against Iran’s three key nuclear sites.
Hegseth addressed recent media reports citing a leaked low-confidence preliminary report from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) that suggested U.S. strikes against Iran likely put the country back mere months.
‘You, the press, specifically you, the press corps, because you cheer against Trump so hard,’ he said. ‘It’s like 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. You have to hope maybe they weren’t effective.’
A DIA source previously told Fox News that the ‘low confidence’ assessment was based on just ‘one day’s worth of intelligence reporting’ and more intelligence has been gathered in the days since through other sources and methods.
Hegseth accused the press of misrepresenting the facts.
‘Maybe the way the Trump administration is represented isn’t true. So let’s take half truths, spun information, leaked information, and then spin it,’ Hegseth said of the media. ‘Spin it in every way we can to try to cause doubt and manipulate the mind, the public mind, over whether or not our brave pilots were successful.’
He also criticized the media for not shining a light on the American service members who carried out the strikes on Saturday and defended Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar from Iran’s counterattack.
Hegseth then chided reporters, alleging ‘the fake news’ of acting irresponsibly with their coverage, saying ‘classified information is leaked or peddled for political purposes to try to make the president look bad.’
‘What’s really happening is you’re undermining the success of incredible B-2 pilots and incredible F-35 pilots and incredible refueling and incredible air defenders who accomplished their mission, set back a nuclear program in ways that other presidents would have dreamed,’ he said. ‘How about we celebrate that?’
Hegseth described the Iranian nuclear sites targeted in Operation Midnight Hammer were ‘destroyed,’ ‘defeated,’ and ‘obliterated’ in what he called ‘a historically successful attack.’
‘We should celebrate it as Americans, and it gives us a chance to have peace, chance to have a deal and an opportunity to prevent a nuclear Iran, which is something President Trump talked about for 20 years,’ he said. ‘And no other presidents had the courage to actually do so.’
Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report.