It’s been nearly 100 days into the Trump presidency and his administration appears bitterly divided over what to do about Iran. The Secretary of State was not present for the negotiations between the mullahs’ diplomats and Trump’s personal friend and special envoy, Steve Witkoff. MAGA World influencers have staked out opposing positions on whether to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities or go for an Obama-style deal.
This battle is at its nastiest inside the Pentagon, where the restrainer wing of the administration and the more hawkish defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, are now in direct bureaucratic conflict. On Tuesday, Hegseth told Fox News that three recently fired senior officials “are now attempting to leak and sabotage the president’s agenda.”
But is this civil war about foreign policy ideology, or is it about a breach in trust between a cabinet secretary and his closest advisers? Either way, a deep friendship has been torn asunder.
