Iran’s retaliatory attacks against Gulf States have driven those countries closer to the United States, according to War Secretary Pete Hegseth, who derided America’s European allies as “ungrateful.”

The Gulf States have stepped up incredibly,” the secretary said on Thursday morning during a briefing on the war at the Pentagon. “In fact, Iran’s sort of reckless attempt to strike civilian infrastructure and other things has brought countries who maybe would have not been as all in as they are today, squarely into our orbit.”