As Trump Pivots Towards Peace, Hegseth Wants War to Escalate
March 27—Sources close to the White House say the self-styled Christian Crusader, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, wants the war in Iran to escalate, to include a U.S. ground invasion, even as President Donald Trump pivots toward a negotiated end to the hostilities.
These sources say that Trump is not playing a bluff to allow for more troops to deploy into the region, but now sees that there is no clear military victory possible, as long as Iran chooses to resist, as it has, and he now believes a wide-ranging peace deal, brokered by regional partners and the Russians may be the only way out for him and the U.S. before the fight turns more deadly. He is supported in his assessment by his intelligence chiefs, and the top of the military command, as well as his closest advisors.
Alignment Between Hegseth and Netanyahu
Hegseth finds himself aligned with Israel messianic leader, Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, who like the Secretary of War sees the war as a crusade against evil that must be carried through to total victory and the annihilation of Iran and the influence of its 3000 years of Persian culture.
Bibi, the Butcher of Gaza, is resisted by the leadership of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), including his handpicked IDF leader Lt. General Eyal Zamir, who recently angered Netanyahu by publicly warning that the IDF is overtaxed and over deployed, and suffering from the potential psychological collapse of its forces, who have been at war for nearly 3 years, and lack manpower replacement to recycle fatigued troops. Spokesmen for the Prime Minister have stopped just short of calling such statements as treasonous, while saying they undermine Israeli security. Only two weeks earlier, the western press printed reports, allegedly also coming from the IDF, that said Israel and the Gulf States were running out of stocks of interceptors used to down Iranian missiles and drones; the IDF denied the reports, but sources continue to state that they are true.
Allegations of Ideological Motivations and Leaks
"Bibi is a calculating liar," said a source with decades of experience diplomatically in the region. "His battle is not against Iran's ostensibly repressive regime of mullahs, nor even about is potential deployment of nuclear weapons. His is a fight to totally destroy Iran as a modern nation, leaving its more than 90 million people is a state of civil strife, that would lead to population collapse.
"Hegseth supports Bibi in these efforts," said the source, "because he believes it is America's mission to fight the biblical evil that he thinks Iran represents. This deployment is not some fight for a nuclear bomb free Iran or for regime change. It is the start of an American campaign against evil, which will through the chaos and violence it unleashes, with bring about the second coming of Christ. This fruitcake believes that American troops that might be deployed to invade Iran will be blessed by God. And he does not want the non-true believer Trump to call all this off. Hegseth and his immediate circle are leaking things to the Israelis, that compromise the President and tip strategy."
Escalation Risks and Sabotaged Diplomacy
The source further confirmed that real and substantive discussions are taking place with Trump and the Iranian leadership, which has been made more complicated by the Israeli assassination of the Ali Larijani, the chief security advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader, who had the power to impose a peace deal on the hardliners and the Revolutionary Guard Corps. He and other sources say that Hegseth may have been responsible for leaking information to the Israelis necessary to target Larijani; that information was leaked by high level opponents of the former Iran Security chief, who are also opposed to a deal with the "Great Satan"—the United States.
These sources say that Hegseth gave approval for an IDF strike on the Iranian natural gas field last week that has set to Iranian attacks on oil and gas facilities throughout to Gulf. "If he did that, and I could see him doing it!—he did it because it would lead to a wider and longer war. Trump denounced the IDF attack as the wrong thing to do, as the wrong time—just as he was starting his indirect, and backchannel peace negotiations.
Concerns Over Extremism and the Path Forward
Hegseth, said the source, "is border line insane. He believes he is on a mission from God to see that Trump stays on a course that would lead to the total destruction of Iran. He wants American troops on the ground fighting the Iranian devils." Asked why Trump does not fire Hegseth, a source stated, "because he kisses Trump's ass on most matters and Trump likes his enthusiasm. But with him having any influence on policy matters, you are only headed towards disaster—or worse. Trump is totally against either American or Israeli use of tactical or other nuclear weapons in this war. Hegseth says he agrees—but does he? Someone who knows him says a nuclear fireball may be just the thing to bring on Armageddon and the Second Coming. If you want to really be scared, consider this: there are people in the U.S. miliary command who think like Crusader Pete!"
This and other sources warn, that even though Trump does not now favor American troops on the ground, he has said he has not ruled it out, and wants to see what negotiations yield.
It is not clear who now in Iran understands these dangers. Larijani, who was not a religious figure but a philosopher and poet, who understood the history of western culture, and its various positive and degenerate ideas, did understand the danger. "We are not dealing with sane people," he told a section of the Iranian leadership, and must yet find a pathway to peace. Having written a critique of Kantian philosophy, he had told people, the negation of a negative influence does not necessarily yield a positive result. We must represent something positive, something that will be for the betterment of all.
"So, the Israelis killed this very unique man," said the source, stating that is the way "a beast like Bibi deals with such problems."