Middle East & North Africa
Hegseth to Iran: a “choice very quickly” between the table and the “destruction America can bring” – “The military should win the Nobel Peace Prize every year”
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told Iran at the University of Tennessee that it must give up its nuclear ambitions at the negotiating table or face destruction, as he swore in 95 recruits on the “Send Me” tour.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth warned Iran that it must give up its nuclear ambitions at the negotiating table or face “the destruction America can bring”. He spoke on Saturday, October 17 at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where he swore in 95 recruits and addressed ROTC cadets as part of the “Send Me” recruitment tour. “President Trump is willing to make sure we confront a generational threat in Iran and its nuclear ambitions. Iran has a choice to make very quickly,” he said, according to a clip posted by the department on X.
Hegseth accused Tehran of funding Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen and argued that American strength is what forces adversaries to negotiate. He also attacked the previous administration: “Whether it was October 7, the war in Ukraine or the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the world was looking at America and wondering whether we were capable of executing like in the past,” he said in another clip. “President Trump said we will not accept American decline,” he added.
“Peace through strength”
Addressing the young people, the secretary said the military is in fact “in the peacemaking business”. “If there is one body that should win the Nobel Peace Prize every year, it is the United States military. Peace through strength,” he said. He also referred to the US operation in Venezuela, saying it will have consequences “for generations”. According to the Hindustan Times, which published a clip of the speech, he spoke of stronger European armies that will hold back “Russia and its ambitions” and of the Chinese military build-up in the Pacific. The Department of War presented the event as thanks to the young Americans who say “send me”.
The statements come while the United States and Iran have avoided active fighting in recent weeks, but Washington maintains its naval blockade and tension in the Strait of Hormuz continues. The war has demanded an enormous quantity of munitions, with the USS Abraham Lincoln firing 450 Tomahawks during its deployment. Earlier in October Hegseth had announced that US forces would be moved from Europe to the United States or the western hemisphere.
