War Secretary Pete Hegseth acknowledged differences on Tuesday between the United States’s and Israel’s objectives after a controversial Israeli strike on oil storage facilities near Tehran, Iran.
On Saturday, Israel launched a series of strikes on 30 fuel depots near Tehran, creating a massive firestorm that sent up a black cloud of pollution over the city and caused black rain to coat populated areas. The strike quickly became controversial, and reports emerged that it angered Washington. When asked about the reports, Hegseth praised Israel’s role in the war with Iran, but acknowledged their different perspectives.
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“Well, I would just state by saying Israel has been a really strong partner in this effort. Where they have different objectives, they’ve pursued them. Ultimately, we’ve stayed focused on ours,” he said during a press conference Tuesday.
“What Iran has felt is the power of the world’s two most powerful air forces,” Hegseth continued. “In that particular case, that wasn’t our, those weren’t our strikes or that objective, or that wasn’t necessarily our objective,” he added.
However, Hegseth buttressed the admission by saying that the U.S. wasn’t “getting pulled in any direction,” and President Donald Trump was “leading… with a very keen eye.”
The statement was a rare, if small, sign of a fracture between the U.S. and Israel in their war with Iran. Despite a long-standing alliance, the war marks the first time the two have fought side by side.
Israel has stood behind its strike on the fuel depots outside Tehran, arguing that they “are used by the Iranian regime to supply fuel to different consumers, including its military organs.”
The U.S. was notified of the attack ahead of time, but was reportedly stunned by the extent of the hits, which went beyond what was expected, according to senior U.S. and Israeli officials speaking with Axios.
“We don’t think it was a good idea,” a senior U.S. official told the outlet, while an Israeli official said the U.S. response was “WTF.”
The attack reportedly angered Trump personally. It also came as oil prices already faced some big swings on Monday.
Overnight, crude oil prices hit almost $120 per barrel, but they soon fell. Analysts worry that continued strikes on energy facilities could worsen the crisis, especially as traffic in the Strait of Hormuz is essentially paused.
“The president doesn’t like the attack,” a Trump adviser told Axios. “He wants to save the oil. He doesn’t want to burn it. And it reminds people of higher gas prices.”
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Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine also celebrated successes so far in the Iran mission.
“Our strikes mean we’ve made significant progress in reducing the number of missile and drone attacks out of Iran ballistic missile attacks continue to downward 90% from where they’ve started,” Caine said, also touting that one-way attack drones from Iran have “decreased 83%” since the operation began on Feb. 28.
