‘America’s mortal enemy’: Pete Hegseth expressed extreme antipathy toward Iran for years

Comments in books, speeches and videos shed new light on defense secretary's personal commitment to war on Iran

The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has expressed a violent antipathy towards Iran for years in books, Fox News broadcasts, educational videos and a 2018 speech to an Israeli media conference in Jerusalem, a Guardian review has revealed.

In a 2020 book, for example, Hegseth wrote that Iran's leaders were actively seeking the military means - especially nuclear weapons - to bring the West to its knees". And in a 2017 video for PragerU, the hard-right media platform, Hegseth described Iran as America's mortal enemy".