President Trump has been publicly repeating misleading claims about the Iran war — claims that originated with his own defense secretary, administration officials told The Washington Post.
“Pete is not speaking truth to the president,” one administration official told the newspaper. “As a result, the president is out there repeating misleading information.”
Hegseth repeatedly claimed the US holds “complete control of Iranian skies” and that Iran possesses “no air defenses.” Both claims collapsed when Iran downed a US F-15E fighter jet, forcing a dangerous extraction mission after its two crew members were left behind enemy lines inside Iranian territory. Trump acknowledged the incident at a White House press conference but brushed it off. “He got lucky. It was a lucky hit,” the president said.
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Related: UPDATED: US Reportedly Rescues Second F-15E Crew Member in Iran After Intense Firefight
On March 31, Hegseth claimed Iranian missile and drone launches had hit their lowest 24-hour total of the war — a claim internal figures undercut. Data compiled by Dmitri Alperovitch of the Silverado Policy Accelerator identified three earlier dates — March 14, 15, and 22 — when launch volumes ran lower.
A CNN investigation, citing three sources familiar with US intelligence assessments, found that roughly half of Iran’s missile launchers remain intact and thousands of one-way attack drones are still in Tehran’s arsenal.
“They are still very much poised to wreak absolute havoc throughout the entire region,” one of the sources told CNN. US intelligence assessed that Tehran is deliberately keeping its launch rate low to preserve its inventory for a longer conflict.
“If you judge Iran’s strength or weakness based on their launch numbers, that is a dumb metric,” one official told the Post. “What is their objective? Are they achieving that?”
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The Pentagon’s Defense Casualty Analysis System recorded 13 US service members killed and 365 wounded in Operation Epic Fury as of April 3.
Spokeswoman Anna Kelly pushed back on any suggestion that Trump wasn’t aware of what was going on, saying his military planners had anticipated every contingency. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell called the Post’s account “lies and propaganda” and said the US military is “ahead of schedule” in Operation Epic Fury.
NBC News reported, citing three current officials and one former official, that Trump receives a daily two-minute video montage of US Central Command strikes — footage one official described as “stuff blowing up.”
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles privately told senior aides to be “more forthright with the boss” after colleagues had been filtering unfavorable information from reaching the president, according to a TIME Magazine investigation.
Read: White House Chief of Staff Warns Aides Against Shielding Trump From Iran War Fallout
At a public appearance in Tennessee, Trump named Hegseth as the first administration official to recommend going to war. “I called Pete, I called General Caine, I called a lot of our great people,” Trump said. “And I said, ‘Let’s talk.'”
Trump himself has said Hegseth was the first person in his administration to say that they should go to war with Iran.
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