‘Let’s do it’: Trump pins push for war with Iran on Pete Hegseth in latest shift

President Donald Trump offers new account of circumstances leading up to commencement of Operation Epic Fury, suggesting Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was particularly enthusiastic about bombing campaign

President Donald Trump appeared to try to pin the blame for the Iran conflict on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Speaking at a Monday roundtable event for national military and law enforcement leaders in Memphis, Tennessee, the president said of the circumstances leading up to the February 28 launch of Operation Epic Fury: “I called Pete, I called General [Dan] Caine, I called a lot of our great people – we have a lot of great people – and I said, ‘Let’s talk.’

“‘We’ve got a problem in the Middle East. We have a country, known as Iran, that has for 47 years been just a purveyor of terror and they’re very close to having a nuclear weapon.

“Some of the celebs in the chat rallied to Sinitta because they felt it was unnecessary to make such an accusation in a group setting.”

Talking about her experience, Gemma said: “It really grounds you again going in there. You just go back to simplicity. It breaks you in ways you’ve never been broken before. I left, literally, some trials broken to an inch of my life. I just can’t describe the pain I felt.”

“You’ll see me vulnerable in there. I was so stripped bare going in there. And because I knew it was so disastrous the time before, I had no chance to back out of any of it.”