What To Know
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced criticism for making aggressive and threatening remarks about Iran during a 60 Minutes interview.
- Viewers, veterans, and commentators condemned Hegseth’s rhetoric as unprofessional, immoral, and damaging.
- Hegseth dismissed concerns about the justification for recent U.S. military actions against Iran, characterizing debate over the threat level as “silly and academic.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth caused a stir on Sunday (March 8) when he sat down with 60 Minutes reporter Major Garrett for an interview about the ongoing U.S. conflict with Iran.
The former Fox News host was called “grotesque” and “psychotic” for his latest rhetoric about the Iran war. One particular controversial comment came after Garrett asked Hegseth whether Russian involvement could put U.S. personnel “in more danger than they otherwise would be.”
“No one’s putting us in danger,” Hegseth responded. “We’re putting the other guys in danger. That’s our job. So we’re not concerned about that. The only ones that need to be worried right now are Iranians that think they’re going to live.”
Viewers slammed Hegseth’s comments, including political commentator Adam Schwarz, who wrote on X, “A grotesquely indiscriminate threat against the entire Iranian population.”
Hegseth asked about Russia helping Iran to target Americans:
“We’re not concerned about that… The only ones that need to be worried right now are Iranians that think they’re going to live.”
A grotesquely indiscriminate threat against the entire Iranian population. pic.twitter.com/cPiSjrQsmz
— Adam Schwarz (@AdamJSchwarz) March 7, 2026
“Pete Hegseth is a psychopath,” said another X user.
“I wore the uniform of the USAF for 25 years, served in combat for 10 as a SpecOps pilot and never once did I hear a SecDef snidely gloat and joke about killing people,” wrote another. “It’s a disgrace to the reputation of the military, it’s people, our professionalism, morality and values.”
Another added, “I still can’t believe a Fox News host is leading a war against Iran. This country, man.”
Elsewhere in the 60 Minutes interview, Hegseth scoffed at a question about whether Iran was an imminent threat to the U.S. when President Trump launched Operation Epic Fury ten days ago.
Garrett asked about whether the war was started due to an opportunity to take out the Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after intelligence reports had been provided through Benjamin Netanyahu as to his whereabouts.
“A lot of times the best way to start operations is a trigger-based or conditions-based moment,” Hegseth said, per Mediaite. “And you can work together on whether that makes sense. But we were always controlling the throttle about whether or not to go or not go, and ultimately, to advance American interests and protect American lives.”
Garrett followed up, asking, “Some might look at that sequence of events and say, well, it was an opportunity more than an imminent threat.”
“I think much of that discussion is silly and academic,” Hegseth fired back. “They’ve been killing us for…47 years. They have unabated nuclear ambitions. And when we obliterated their nuclear program at the end of the 12-day war in Operation Midnight Hammer, they should have come to the table, and say, ‘Okay, we get it, you mean business. We’re not gonna have nukes,’ and they haven’t.”
60 Minutes, Sundays, 7/6 c, CBS