Washington, March 13 (IANS) U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth used part of a Pentagon briefing on the Iran conflict on Friday to sharply criticise media coverage of the war and even suggest alternative headlines he said would better reflect the situation on the battlefield.
Speaking during a news conference alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, Hegseth accused sections of the press of mischaracterising the conflict and focusing on narratives that, in his view, overstated Iran’s position while underplaying U.S. military gains.
“Allow me to make a few suggestions,” Hegseth told reporters. “People look up at the TV, and they see banners. They see headlines.”
The Defence Secretary said he was familiar with the industry from his past career in television.
“I used to be in that business, and I know that everything is written intentionally,” he said.
Hegseth pointed to examples of television graphics he said had appeared in recent coverage of the war.
“For example, a banner or a headline ‘Mideast war intensifies’ splashing on the screen the last couple of days alongside visuals of civilian or energy targets that Iran has hit,” he said.
According to Hegseth, those headlines gave the wrong impression about how the war was unfolding.
“What should the banner read instead?” he asked.
“How about ‘Iran increasingly desperate’ because they are — they know it.”
The Defence Secretary also cited a CNN report he said claimed the Trump administration had underestimated the war’s potential impact on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
“Patently ridiculous,” Hegseth said.
“Of course, for decades Iran has threatened shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.”
He dismissed the report as “a fundamentally unserious report.”
Hegseth also criticised what he described as sensational headlines suggesting that the conflict was expanding across the region.
“Another example of a fake headline that I saw yesterday — ‘war widening,’” he said.
“Here’s a real headline for you for an actual patriotic press, how about ‘Iran shrinking, going underground?’”
Throughout the briefing, Hegseth repeatedly emphasised that the United States believed Iran’s military capabilities were rapidly deteriorating under the ongoing campaign.
He said American and Israeli air forces had conducted thousands of strikes against Iranian targets.
“The combination of the world’s two most powerful air forces is unprecedented and unbeatable,” he said.
“Between our Air Force and that of the Israelis, over 15,000 enemy targets have been struck.”
The Defence Secretary said Iranian forces had suffered heavy losses across multiple domains.
“Iran has no air defences. Iran has no air force. Iran has no navy,” he said.
“Their missiles, their missile launchers and drones are being destroyed or shot out of the sky.”
Hegseth also claimed that Iran’s missile attacks had dropped sharply as a result of the strikes.
“Their missile volume is down 90 per cent,” he said.
“Their one-way attack drones yesterday went down 95 per cent.”
The remarks came during a briefing focused largely on the progress of the U.S. military campaign against Iran, which officials said had entered its 13th day.
Gen. Caine said American forces had struck more than 6,000 targets during the operation and were continuing to attack Iranian missile, drone, and naval capabilities.
“This morning we enter the 13th day of Operation Epic Fury, and we continue to make progress toward our military objectives,” he said.
While the Pentagon used the briefing to outline the military progress of the campaign, Hegseth’s pointed criticism of media coverage stood out as an unusual moment in a formal Department of Defence news conference.
The exchange reflected growing tensions between the Trump administration and parts of the U.S. news media over coverage of the Iran conflict.
U.S. officials say the campaign is aimed at destroying Iran’s missile launch capabilities, crippling its naval power and preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
–IANS
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