Is Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth waging a holy war against Iran?

Why has Hegseth fired top generals from the military, and how does he use religion to justify America’s war aims? We look at the frontman for the US war in Iran, the former Fox News host, Pete Hegseth. A key feature of his Pentagon press briefings are his religious rhetoric, which may reveal the motivation behind his reforms of the U.S. military.

Despite only narrowly making it through the confirmation process to become defense secretary in the first place, Hegseth has become a key figure in the White House as he looks to reshape the Pentagon by rolling back on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies and removing many key figures at the top of the Pentagon.

In today’s episode of Americast, Justin and Anthony speak to Eric Schmitt from The New York Times, a longtime national security correspondent who recently left his press desk inside the Pentagon after refusing to accept new Trump administration rules that restrict their movements and who they can talk to. Justin and Eric discuss the reasons why Donald Trump wanted Hegseth in post, the impact so far of the changes he’s making inside the Pentagon, and whether he’s eyeing up a presidential run of his own one day.

HOSTS: • Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter • Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent

GUEST: • Eric Schmitt, National Security Correspondent at The New York Times

GET IN TOUCH: • Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB • Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480 • Email Americast@bbc.co.uk • Or use #Americast

This episode was made by George Dabby with Alix Pickles. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app.

You can now listen to Americast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Americast”. It works on most smart speakers.

US Election Unspun: Sign up for Anthony’s BBC newsletter: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68093155

Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including Newscast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below.

Newscast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p05299nl Radical: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0gg4k6r The Global Story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvsd