Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday that the U.S. is “postured defensively in the region to be strong” amid conflict between Israel and Iran in the Middle East.
“Our job is to be strong. We are postured defensively in the region to be strong, in pursuit of a peace deal. And we certainly hope that’s what happens here,” Hegseth said on Fox News’s “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
“And ‘America First’ means we’re going to defend American personnel and American interests,” he added.
Conflict between Israel and Iran broke out last week following long-simmering tensions in the region over Israel’s war in Gaza and Iran’s nuclear capabilities. President Trump said recently that “it’s possible” the U.S. steps into the conflict.
“We’re not involved in it. It’s possible we could get involved. But we are not at this moment involved,” Trump told ABC News over the weekend.
On Monday, Hegseth ordered the deployment of “additional capabilities” to the Middle East amid the conflict.
He did not describe specifics, though earlier in the day a U.S. official confirmed to NewsNation that the U.S. military moved several refueling tanker aircraft to Europe.
The president told reporters early Tuesday he was seeking “a real end” to the conflict, saying he wasn’t “looking for a ceasefire. … We’re looking for better than a ceasefire.”
Defense Department spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a post on the social platform X Monday night that “American Forces are maintaining their defensive posture & that has not changed.”
“We will protect American troops & our interests,” he added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not rule out targeting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday following reports that Trump had shot down a plan from Israel to take Khamenei out.