![\"Pete](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/NJMXJDMFVBF4HOF3SJ2MXXV5DQ.png\")
Hegseth refused to answer several questions put to him by 60 Minutes. 60 Minutes <\/p>\n
The strikes have shown no sign of slowing down, even in the face of retaliatory strikes from Iran that have killed eight U.S. soldiers<\/a> and counting.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I want your viewers to understand is this is only just the beginning,\u201d Hegseth warned.<\/p>\n At one point, Hegseth needed to be reminded by Major Garrett that he had already told the media that the U.S. did not have any overt or covert forces inside Iran at the moment.<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t tell you that if we did,\u201d Hegseth replied, prompting Garrett to remind him, \u201cEarlier this week you said no. Is that still the answer?\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cYeah, that\u2019s still the answer,\u201d Hegseth conceded. \u201cBut we reserve the right. We would be completely unwise if we did not reserve the right to take any particular option, whether it included boots on the ground or no boots on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n During a press briefing<\/a> with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine on Mar. 4, Hegseth boasted of the military\u2019s success in seizing control of Iran\u2019s airspace and waterways \u201cwithout boots on the ground.\u201d Gen. Caine declined to answer when asked what conditions would make deploying boots on the ground necessary, calling that a question for policymakers.<\/p>\n In another moment in the 60 Minutes interview, seemingly unhappy with his answer to a possible surrender, Major Garrett explained to Hegseth that, \u201cTypically, the understanding of a surrender is person-to-person. Is that what would be required in a matter like this?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, there\u2019s a lotta different ways,\u201d Hegseth responded. \u201cWhether they want to admit it or not, whether their pride lets them say it out loud or not\u2014it\u2019s President Trump who will set the terms of that. \u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is war. This is conflict. This is bringing your enemy to their knees. Now, whether they will have a ceremony in Tehran Square and surrender, that\u2019s up to them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Asked whether the U.S. plans to deal with Iran\u2019s stores of highly enriched uranium, Hegseth went on a rant about not telling the enemy or the press your plans.<\/p>\n \u201cI would never tell you or anybody else what our options are,\u201d Hegseth told Garrett. \u201cPeople ask boots on the ground, no boots on the ground, four weeks, two weeks, six weeks, go in, go in?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPresident Trump knows, I know, you don\u2019t tell the enemy, you don\u2019t tell the press, you don\u2019t tell anybody what your limits would be on an operation,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe\u2019re willing to go as far as we need to in order to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n Hegseth also declined to answer about the strike on the elementary school in the city of Minab, which killed an estimated 175 people<\/a> including dozens of children.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, we\u2019re still investigating and that\u2019s where I\u2019ll leave it today. But what I will emphasize to you and to the world is that unlike our adversaries, the Iranians, we never target civilians,\u201d Hegseth said. When asked by Garrett if the report from two officials that concluded that the U.S. was likely conducted by the U.S. was false, Hegseth again declined to answer, telling Garrett, \u201cI\u2019ve already said we\u2019re investigating.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf you could tell the American public, \u2018It definitively was not us,\u2019 you would tell us, wouldn\u2019t you?\u201d Garrett asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say that it\u2019s being investigated, which is the only answer I\u2019m prepared to give.\u201d<\/p>\n When he wasn\u2019t avoiding questions, the defense secretary was dismissing criticisms that have been leveled at the Trump administration, including skepticism over just how imminent a threat Iran\u2019s nuclear weapons program really, which the Trump administration crippled in strikes it conducted in June<\/a>, actually was.<\/p>\n \u201cSome might look at that sequence of events and say, well, that it was an opportunity more than an imminent threat,\u201d Garrett said.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, I think much of that discussion is silly and academic,\u201d Hegseth replied. \u201cThey\u2019ve been killing us for 48 years, 47 years. They have unabated nuclear ambitions.\u201d<\/p>\n On the subject of U.S. casualties, Hegseth, who served in the Army National Guard during the Iraq War, repeated Trump\u2019s talking points, telling Garrett, \u201cThe president\u2019s been right to say there will be casualties. Things like this don\u2019t happen without casualties. There will be more casualties.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, especially our generation knows what it\u2019s like to see Americans come home in caskets\u2026 but that doesn\u2019t weaken us one bit. It stiffens our spine and our resolve to say this is a fight we will finish.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Despite spending much of the interview declining to answer questions and repeating White House talking points, Hegseth promoted the extended interview in a post on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Pete](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/VFLTFUMEANFXVC6S5Z5LKWHHVI.png\")
The defense secretary had to be reminded by CBS News’ Major Garrett what he had previously told the public. 60 Minutes <\/p>\n![\"Pete](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/DVMSH3KFQRANZKNYZM2FTLT5FM.JPG\")
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth reiterated many of the Trump administration’s talking points during his interview. Kevin Lamarque\/REUTERS <\/p>\n