Pete Hegseth

Hegseth's comments follow a similar incident in 2019, when then-Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg compared Mike Pence to the Pharisees.

Hegseth stated that he had a message for the Iranian leadership: "We are watching you. Your capabilities are not the same as ours. Remember, this is not a fair fight."

"This war will be remembered as Trump's grave strategic miscalculation. One whose consequences reshaped the region in unintended ways," Middle East scholar Fawaz Gerges told Reuters.

How Hegseth, Rubio, and Waltz used the Iran conflict to rewrite America’s rules of war – and why Israel sits at the center of the new model

"We hope and believe the ceasefire will hold," said Hegseth, who also thanked Israel for being a "brave, capable, and willing ally on this battlefield." 

Trump has threatened to rain "hell" on Tehran if it did not make a deal by the end of Tuesday that would allow traffic to start moving again through the vital route for global energy supplies.

After ejecting from the jet, the officer sent a message over his radio saying “Power be to God,” according to Trump who added that it "sounded like something a Muslim would say."

CNN's sources, after reviewing the US intelligence assessment, determined that Trump's two-or three-week prediction for ending the war was wholly unrealistic. 

Among the names being discussed are FBI Director Kash Patel, Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the Atlantic said, adding that the timing was 'uncertain.'

Trump, who has previously offered shifting timelines and objectives for the war, said in a televised speech on Wednesday that the war could escalate if Iran did not give in to Washington's terms.