As the world watched anxiously whether the Middle East descends into wider war and the US actively joins Israel against Iran, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth sidestepped direct questions before Congress on Wednesday and otherwise declined to shed insights into the administration’s plans.
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The Pentagon chief told the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee that the final decision on what course America would take was in the hands of US President Donald Trump, describing his own role as furnishing the White House with options.
In response to sharp questioning by Democratic senators, Hegseth chose not to detail whether those options included the use of 30,000-pound [13,608kg] GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs, commonly known as “bunker busters”.
Israel has requested use of the bombs to disrupt nuclear enrichment facilities built at Fordow deep within an Iranian mountain.
“Any decisions on this matter are at the presidential level,” said Hegseth, a former Fox News host. “My job … at all times is to make sure the president has options and is informed of what those options might be and … the ramifications of those options.”
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The prospect of the American military entering the conflict, which has become the most consequential decision Trump faces so far in his second term, has the potential to abruptly change the balance of power in the Middle East while pulling the US into a conflict that puts the president at odds with many of his own political allies.