Defence chief: Iran pulled regional allies into US orbit

U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Iran bears responsibility for the widening conflict across the region, accusing Tehran of drawing additional countries into the confrontation.

Speaking at a press conference at United States Central Command on Thursday, March 5, Hegseth said Iran had expanded the scope of the conflict by “targeting allied countries that would otherwise want to stay out of this.”

“They’ve actually pulled them into the American orbit,” Hegseth said.

According to the defence secretary, several countries in the Gulf — including Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait — have since come to the United States’ defence. He said this support is “firming up the unity of the resistance in order to focus exactly where we need to.”

“It’s actually simplifying in a number of ways exactly what we need to achieve and how we’ll achieve it,” Hegseth said.

Commenting on cooperation with allies, Hegseth also said “it was unfortunate” that the United Kingdom did not collaborate on the conflict involving Iran “from day one.”

“But we got there. We got there,” he added.

By Tamilla Hasanova