President Trump has turned to his unconventional Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to sell his war in Iran to a weary public and an increasingly vocal faction of MAGA skeptics.
Hegseth, a former National Guardsman who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, has appeared at the lectern three times this week to forcefully defend the president from accusations he is dragging America into exactly the type of foreign conflict he had vowed to avoid.
Despite facing criticism from right-wing figures and Republican senators, Hegseth has laid out the military-only goals of the campaign but hasn't clearly explained the administration's ultimate objective beyond destroying missile sites and smashing Iran's navy.
Senior defense officials say Hegseth's role isn't limited to appearing on TV, and as a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, he has made it his mission to be as involved as possible in this new conflict.
Hegseth has been privately quarterbacking the U.S. plans to attack Iran and translating Trump's goals to battlefield commanders, they say.
