Hegseth, a Fox News anchor before President Donald Trump appointed him defense secretary, repeatedly criticized the media and questioned its patriotism for its reporting on an initial assessment of the weekend’s bombing that questioned how much damage was done to Iran’s nuclear program.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth spoke at an on-camera press briefing on Thursday morning at the Pentagon. At the event, Hegseth shared that the United States' strikes against Iran were "historically successful,

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, offered on Thursday the Trump administration’s most detailed descriptions yet of the planning and execution of U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.