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Pope Francis dead at 88, Vatican says
Pope Francis, Bishop of Rome and Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church, who worked to instill progressive influences on the global church while maintaining unity with conservatives amid years of turmoil, died Monday morning, Vatican camerlengo Cardinal Kevin Farrell announced.
He was 88 years old.
«Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis. At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and His Church,» Farrell announced.
«He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage and universal love, especially in favor of the poorest and most marginalized. With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite merciful love of the One and Triune God.»
U.S. Vice President JD Vance had just met with the pope on Sunday.
«I just learned of the passing of Pope Francis. My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him. I was happy to see him yesterday, though he was obviously very ill. But I’ll always remember him for the below homily he gave in the very early days of COVID. It was really quite beautiful. May God rest his soul,» Vance said early Monday morning in a post on X.
Pope Francis meets with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and his delegation during an audience at Casa Santa Marta on April 20, 2025, in Vatican City, Vatican. (Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
The pope preached frequently on the Catholic virtues of mercy, kindness and humility. He did not shy away from controversy, and American presidents, including Donald Trump and Joe Biden, were not immune from his views.
Less than a month into President Donald Trump’s presidency, the pontiff criticized the Republican’s plans for the mass deportations of migrants, stressing that the forceful removal of people simply for their immigration status deprives them of their inherent dignity and «will end badly.»
In a strongly worded letter to U.S. Catholic Bishops, the pope appeared to counter remarks made by Vice President JD Vance — who had recently converted to Catholicism — after he suggested Americans should care for family, communities and the country before caring about others.
«Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups,» the pontiff wrote. «Worrying about personal, community or national identity, apart from these considerations.»
POPE FRANCIS EXPOSES CONFIDENTIAL DETAILS ABOUT HIS ELECTION AND RELATIONSHIPS IN LENGTHY INTERVIEW
Pope Francis meets with bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated persons, seminarians and pastoral workers in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cathedral in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, on Sept. 15, 2022. (Reuters/Pavel Mikheyev)
Pope Francis in 2015 became the first pontiff to ever address a Joint Meeting of Congress where he spoke on a range of topics including immigration, family, the death penalty, climate change, extremism, religious freedom and the refugee crisis.
He joined American bishops and urged American leaders to abolish capital punishment and said Congress has a «role to play» in addressing global warming.
In 2022 he questioned then President Biden’s conscience on abortion in an interview during which he described the commander-in-chief’s religious identity and views on abortion as incoherent. «A month after conception, the DNA of the fetus is already there and the organs are aligned. There is human life,» the pontiff said in the interview with Spanish-language outlet Univision.
He also weighed in on candidates Trump and Harris during the election campaign, where he bashed them both, saying, «Both are against life, be it the one who kicks out migrants, or be it the one who kills babies,″ he said, according to the Associated Press.
Just weeks before President Trump’s second inauguration, he appointed Cardinal Robert McElroy to be the Archbishop of Washington. McElroy had been critical of Trump’s immigration policies during his first term as president.
Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 1936 to Italian immigrant parents in Argentina, Francis made history as the first pope from the Americas — as well as the first Jesuit to hold the office.
He was elected pope in 2013 after the almost unprecedented retirement of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.
Bergolio’s father, Mario, was an accountant for the railway industry, and his mother, Regina, was a homemaker and caregiver for her five children.
POPE FRANCIS FUELS NEW SPECULATION ON FUTURE OF PONTIFICATE
Pope Francis, born as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, is shown here with his family. From left to right, standing, brother Alberto Horacio, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Oscar Adrian and sister Marta Regina, sitting, sister Maria Elena, mother Regina and father Mario Jose Francisco. (API/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
Throughout his early years, the future pope worked a number of menial jobs. He labored briefly in the stocking factory where his father was an accountant before moving on to other opportunities, including jobs as a bar bouncer and janitor.
He eventually sought a career as a chemical technician, receiving a diploma in chemistry from the secondary school Escuela Técnica Industrial N° 27 Hipólito Yrigoyen. He also worked briefly in a food laboratory. However, his career in chemistry was short-lived.
He entered the priesthood at the Diocesan Seminary of Villa Devoto in Argentina. Francis was ordained a priest in 1969 and made his final profession with the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits, in 1973. The same year, he was appointed as a provincial for the order.
His appointment as provincial was concurrent with the Dirty War, a period of intense state-led persecution of left-wing leaders and political dissidents. Bergolio experienced constant threats to his own safety as he worked to hide or aid in the escape of government targets, including many Catholic faithful.
Pope Francis’ is a fan of Argentina’s San Lorenzo Futbol Club. (API/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
During that time, two Jesuit priests under his supervision were disappeared by the government, drugged and left barely alive in a field five months after their kidnapping. Pope Francis has said he was forced to negotiate with the regime for their release.
Bergolio would spend the next two decades bouncing from position to position at the direction of his superiors. He served as a professor of theology, seminary instructor, rector, doctoral student and parish priest.
In 1992, Pope John Paul II appointed Bergolio as titular Bishop of Auca and as an auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires. This was done at the request of Cardinal Antonio Quarracino, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, who consecrated him to the episcopacy.
Bergoglio proved vital to the nation’s Catholic community, and he was quickly raised to the dignity of Coadjutor Archbishop of Buenos Aires, serving alongside Quarracino and taking over the archdiocese entirely after his death the following year.
Bergoglio was given the crimson hat of a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2001.
In 2013, after the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, Bergoglio was elected to the papacy, selecting the pontifical name «Francis» after St. Francis of Assisi — a choice that set the tone for the rest of his papacy.
POPE DERIDES BIDEN’S ABORTION VIEWS, CATHOLIC SELF-IDENTITY AS ‘INCOHERENCE’
Newly elected Pope Francis, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina appears on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica after being elected by the conclave of cardinals, at the Vatican on March 13, 2013. White smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel chimney, and the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica rang out, signaling at the time that the Roman Catholic cardinals had elected a pope to succeed Benedict XVI. (Tony Gentile/Reuters)
Pope Francis’s teachings as a priest, bishop, cardinal and pope were deeply influenced by his Jesuit vocation — viewing each person as a unique creation of God, with whom they can have a personal relationship. His ministry and leadership were committed to keeping doors open and making the church approachable to the public.
It was not only American politics that he had strong opinions of.
He faced criticism for specific remarks he made against Israel’s military operation in Gaza, calling the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave «very serious and shameful.» During that same speech, he condemned the growth of antisemitism throughout the world, Reuters reported. He also called for an end to the war in Ukraine and expressed concerns over climate change.
In 2023, seemingly looking to strike a balance, he formally allowed Catholic priests to give same-sex couples a blessing, which was seen as being a radical shift in church policy, the Associated Press reported at the time.
Pope Francis is also remembered for living a life of intense simplicity, denying himself a lavish papal apartment in the Vatican upon his election, and opting instead for a two-room suite in the Domus Santa Marta, a residence built by Pope John Paul II.
Pope Francis celebrates the traditional rite of the washing of feet at the Casal del Marmo juvenile penitentiary on April 6, 2023, in Rome, Italy. On Holy Thursday, Pope Francis went to the outskirts of Rome to celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at the Casal del Marmo juvenile penitentiary, where he carried out the traditional rite of the washing of the feet of twelve of the young people there. (Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
In contrast to his immediate predecessors, Pope Francis eschewed ornate robes or luxurious clothing. His outfit rarely consisted of more than a plain, white cassock tied with a papal fascia.
Pope Francis even dressed down his Ring of the Fisherman — a piece of gold jewelry worn by popes to signify their office — by having it made with silver and only wearing it for ceremonies.
Francis’s tenure continued the ongoing efforts to investigate decades of sexual abuse claims against priests across the world, including in the United States, with Francis vowing transparency in 2019.
«Transparency is now being implemented at the highest level,» said Archbishop Charles Scicluna, the Archbishop of Malta and Adjunct Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, after Francis gave legal authorities access to documents about sexual abuse cases and abolished the «pontifical secret» of the cases.
POPE FRANCIS DEFROCKS NOTORIOUS BISHOP WHO CONFESSED TO ABUSING HIS NEPHEW
Pope Francis meets President Donald Trump during his first term in the Private Library of the Apostolic Palace with his wife, Melania, his daughter, Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner. (Vatican/Pool/Galazka/Archivio Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori via Getty Images)
He continued Benedict’s work to root malicious clerics out of the Church hierarchy «with the wrath of God,» appointing task forces and establishing victim aid groups.
Pope Francis proved frustrating for a wide variety of conservatives, liberals, traditionalists and progressives.
His gentle — at times vague and confusing — language on key social issues, such as sexuality and divorce, frustrated conservatives hoping for a more aggressive champion of Catholic moral teaching.
In July 2017, a group of Catholic clergy and academics sent Pope Francis a «Filial Correction» document alleging seven serious theological mistakes made by the pontiff in public statements. The document’s assertions proved controversial within the Catholic Church and the document was never explicitly addressed.
Conversely, his refusal to back down from traditional church teachings on abortion, gay marriage, women’s ordination and priestly celibacy frustrated progressives hoping for a more modern church.
Echoing his time as a prelate in Argentina, Pope Francis was at times criticized from both sides of the aisle for his heavy hand enforcing Catholic unity on national and international levels.
Traditionalists voiced intense opposition to his apostolic letter «Traditionis custodes,» which restricted the celebration of the traditional Latin mass in an attempt to squash increasingly separatist conservative movements within the Church.
Pope Francis meets with then-President Joe Biden during an audience at the Apostolic Palace on Oct. 29, 2021 in Vatican City. (Vatican Media via Vatican Pool)
He similarly shut down discussion of many social issues that progressives have sought to reform.
In 2019, Pope Francis told a nun asking him to approve the ordination of women that «if the Lord didn’t want a sacramental ministry for women, it can’t go forward,» adding, «We are Catholics, but if anyone wants to found another church they are free [to do so].»
The hyper-progressive leadership of the Catholic Church in Germany was a target of his ire after the country’s clerical leaders attempted an upheaval of traditional teachings regarding gender and sexuality. The Vatican issued a series of letters, approved by Pope Francis, accusing the German church of risking separation from the Catholic Communion.
The conflict with German bishops encapsulated his papacy’s recurring themes of authority and unity, best exemplified in a passage from his «Letter to the Pilgrim People of God in Germany.»
POPE FRANCIS URGES CATHOLIC VOTERS TO ‘CHOOSE THE LESSER EVIL’ BETWEEN TRUMP AND HARRIS
Pope Francis delivers a speech during the Holy Mass with newly appointed Cardinals. (Stefano Costantino/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
In the letter, Pope Francis wrote, «The universal Church lives in and of the particular Churches, just as the particular Churches live and flourish in and from the universal Church. If they find themselves separated from the entire ecclesial body, they weaken, rot and die. Hence, the need always to ensure that communion with the whole body of the Church is alive and effective.»
Pope Francis visited dozens of countries, including the United States and Cuba in 2015, and went as far afield as Papua New Guinea, as well as visits to predominantly Muslim countries including Egypt, Morocco and Jordan.
Pope Francis struggled with health complications throughout his reign.
The pontiff dealt for many years with sciatica, a nerve condition that caused immense pain in his leg and at times hindered his ability to walk.
In 2021, Pope Francis was hospitalized for an intestinal surgery that removed 13 inches of his colon.
In March 2023, Francis was again taken to the hospital after experiencing intense chest pain and difficulty breathing. He was treated for a respiratory infection and released after antibiotic treatment.
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Pope Francis is welcomed as he arrives at the Apostolic Prefecture on Sept. 1, 2023 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. According to the Vatican, the trip was Pope Francis’s 43rd Apostolic Journey abroad and the 61st country he visited as Pope. (Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
In June of the same year, the pope was brought back for another abdominal surgery to repair an incisional hernia. He was released after making a full recovery.
He took a fall at his residence and suffered a contusion on his right arm in January 2025.
In February, he was once again hospitalized after a bout of bronchitis.
Following Pope Francis’ death, the Vatican has entered a time of sede vacante — in English, «empty seat.»
The Associated Press, Reuters and Fox News’ Annie Butterworth contributed to this report.
INTERNACIONAL
Guerra contra Irán: Para China, miles de millones de dólares están en riesgo por un conflicto que se extiende
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«Think of Mojtaba Khamenei as his father on steroids.»
That is how Kasra Aarabi, director of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps research at the advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran, described Iran’s new supreme leader in comments to Fox News Digital following reports that the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been selected to lead the Islamic Republic.
«Mojtaba was already operating as a ‘mini supreme leader’ in the Bayt-e Rahbari — his father’s office and the core nucleus of power in the regime,» Aarabi said.
IF KHAMENEI FALLS, WHO TAKES IRAN? STRIKES WILL EXPOSE POWER VACUUM — AND THE IRGC’S GRIP
File photo shows Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, attending a demonstration to mark Jerusalem day in Tehran. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
«His father had created the Bayt’s extensive apparatus as a hidden power structure to ensure continuity should he be eliminated — and through Mojtaba’s appointment, this is exactly what we will get,» Aarabi said.
President Donald Trump also reacted to Mojtaba Khamenei’s rise. In an interview with the New York Post, Trump said he was «not happy with» the younger Khamenei replacing his father as leader of Iran’s theocratic system but declined to elaborate on how the United States might respond. «Not going to tell you,» Trump said when asked about his plans regarding the new supreme leader. «Not going to tell you. I’m not happy with him.»
An Iranian source with knowledge of the leadership transition told Fox News Digital that earlier speculation Mojtaba might pursue reforms now appears unlikely given the circumstances surrounding his appointment.
«Previously there were whispers suggesting that if Mojtaba were to become the leader, he might introduce reforms that would both open up the domestic political space and bring a more interactive approach to foreign policy,» the source said.
«However, now this possibility seems very weak.»
Mojtaba was chosen «amid disputes, controversies, and pressure from the IRGC,» according to the source, meaning he «owes his appointment to their support and therefore cannot act against their wishes.»
TRUMP SAYS IRAN’S SUCCESSION BENCH WIPED OUT AS ISRAELI STRIKE HITS LEADERSHIP DELIBERATIONS
Military members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in western Tehran, Iran (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Built inside Iran’s security state
Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, has spent decades building influence inside the power structures surrounding Iran’s supreme leader.
Born in 1969 in Mashhad, he pursued clerical studies in Tehran, Iran, after the 1979 Islamic Revolution that brought his father to prominence. Over time, however, analysts say his influence developed less through traditional clerical authority and more through Iran’s security institutions.
In 2019, the United States sanctioned Mojtaba under Executive Order 13867. The U.S. Treasury Department said he had been «representing the supreme leader in an official capacity despite never being elected or appointed to a government position aside from work in the office of his father.»
Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Iran Program, said Mojtaba’s background reflects a broader shift inside the Islamic Republic.
People hold placards with an image of Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei with late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during a gathering to support Mojtaba Khamenei, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 9, 2026. (Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) Via Reuters)
«Despite donning a turban, Mojtaba is the product of the regime’s national security deep state,» Ben Taleblu told Fox News Digital. «Expect him to work with and through the IRGC to keep his hold on power.»
Aarabi said Mojtaba has spent years consolidating influence behind the scenes.
«His past tells us he enjoys micromanaging every aspect of authority to satisfy his thirst for power,» Aarabi said, describing how Mojtaba allegedly relocated IRGC command centers to his office during protests, engineered election outcomes and installed loyalists across state institutions.
Since 2019, Aarabi added, Mojtaba has also been implementing what he described as his father’s effort to «purify» the regime by promoting ideological loyalists across the political system.
«Mojtaba is a deeply antisemitic, anti-American, and anti-Western ideologue,» Aarabi said. «He has personally been involved in repression in Iran and terror plots abroad.»
IRAN’S SENIOR CLERICS ‘EXPOSED’ AFTER BUILDING STRIKE IN QOM, SUCCESSION CHOICE LOOMS
Kashmiri Shiite Muslims carry pictures of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as they march in a protest rally on the fourth day of mourning in Magam, Jammu and Kashmir, on March 4, 2026. (Faisal Khan/Anadolu/Getty Images)
Analysts see harder line ahead
Analysts say Mojtaba’s rise may further strengthen the role of Iran’s security institutions.
«The rise of the younger Khamenei expedites trendlines seen in Iranian politics and national security for years,» Ben Taleblu said. «From one Khamenei to another, things in Iran can be expected to go from bad to worse if this regime survives.»
«And like the elder Khamenei, corruption runs in the family,» he added.
Ben Taleblu warned that the regime may also escalate tensions externally as a survival strategy.
«The regime knows it is weak, but believes it can extract a price and widen a crisis in order to survive,» he said.
For opposition groups inside Iran, the leadership transition signals continuity rather than reform.
«He’s the son of Khamenei and they have same ideology and they same strategy and they try to continue the same policy,» said Khalid Azizi, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran.
«So far it’s very difficult to say what he will be done and is he going to have a different policy? I don’t expect this.»
The Iranian source who spoke with Fox News Digital said that while engagement with the United States and the West is theoretically possible in the future, the chances remain slim.
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On March 1, 2026, in Sana’a, Yemen. pro-Iran protesters brandish billboards depicting the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei, flags of Yemen and Iran, weapons, and chant slogans at a rally held to condemn the U.S.-Israel aerial attacks on Iran and the killing of Khamenei and several military officials. (Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)
«As I mentioned,» the source said, «this possibility is very weak.»
«In short,» Aarabi said, «Mojtaba is his father on steroids. He’s certainly no MBS.»
ali khamenei,war with iran,iran,terrorism
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Hegseth once warned against endless wars. Now he’s leading Trump’s strike-first doctrine
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In a little over a year, the United States has carried out dozens of airstrikes on vessels in the Caribbean tied to alleged narco-trafficking networks, launched sustained operations against Houthi forces in the Red Sea, captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, struck Iranian nuclear facilities and now embarked on an extended military campaign aimed at degrading Tehran’s missile, drone and command infrastructure.
The tempo marks one of the most assertive stretches of American force projection in recent years, spanning Latin America, the Middle East and critical maritime corridors.
For War Secretary Pete Hegseth, it also represents a striking turn.
HEGSETH BLASTS BRITS, SAYS IRAN’S CHAOTIC RETALIATION HAS DRIVEN ITS OWN ALLIES ‘INTO THE AMERICAN ORBIT’
Just before the 2024 presidential election, he described himself as a «recovering neocon,» expressing regret over his support for Iraq-era interventionism and warning against open-ended wars.
Several analysts say the defining feature of the administration’s approach may be less about ideological evolution and more about alignment and execution.
«Unlike in Trump one, everyone in Trump’s cabinet now — Hegseth, Rubio, etc. — understands that the president is the boss,» said Matthew Kroenig, a defense strategist at the Atlantic Council. «In Trump 1.0 you had some Cabinet officials who thought their job was to save the Republic from Trump, the so-called adults in the room. And so I think it’s pretty clear the president wanted to go in this direction, and I think Hegseth sees himself as supporting the president’s vision.»
‘Validation of … leadership’
That cohesion has coincided with a pattern of risk-taking.
Several of the administration’s most consequential military moves, from Venezuela to the Houthis to the current Iran campaign, carried the potential for escalation.
«Unlike in Trump one, everyone in Trump’s cabinet now — Hegseth, Rubio, etc. — understands that the President is the boss,» said Matthew Kroenig, a defense strategist at the Atlantic Council. (The White House/Handout via Reuters)
Some strategists say the relative absence of early blowback from those interventions may have reinforced the administration’s willingness to escalate into the Iranian theater.
PENTAGON POLICY CHIEF GRILLED AS DEM CLAIMS TRUMP BROKE PROMISE ABOUT GOING TO WAR WITH IRAN
«I’m not sure I would have advised this,» Kroenig said of the Iran operation. «It is pretty risky, but it’s going well so far.»
Iranian missile launches have declined in volume. Regional allies have not broken ranks. Whether that constitutes strategic success, however, depends on the metric.
Justin Fulcher, a former Pentagon adviser to Hegseth, argued the early phases of the campaign reflect what he described as a «return to strategic clarity.»
«Deterrence is only credible when our allies actually believe that if President Trump says something, we will back it up,» Fulcher said. «This is a validation of Secretary Hegseth and President Trump’s leadership.»
«Deterrence is only credible when our allies actually believe that if President Trump says something, we will back it up,» former Pentagon advisor Justin Fulcher said. «This is a validation of Secretary Hegseth and President Trump’s leadership.» (Kevin Wolf, File/The Associated Press )
TRUMP SAYS IRAN’S SUCCESSION BENCH WIPED OUT AS ISRAELI STRIKE HITS LEADERSHIP DELIBERATIONS
Hegseth, a former Army officer who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, has argued that the current campaign bears little resemblance to those conflicts.
«This is not Iraq. This is not endless. I was there for both,» Hegseth said at a press conference in early March. «Our generation knows better and so does this president.»
In a separate interview, he added, «This is not a remaking of Iranian society from an American perspective. We tried that. The American people have rejected that.»
Danielle Pletka, a senior fellow at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute think tank, said the campaign has unfolded largely as expected.
«I think things have gone reasonably well,» Pletka said, pointing to degraded air defenses and what she described as repeated miscalculations by Iran. «All they’ve really done is made everybody quite mad, and that was a really bad calculation on their part.»
At the same time, she cautioned against interpreting the administration’s actions as part of a fixed doctrine.
«I don’t think that it is doctrinal,» Pletka said. «I think this is ad hoc.»
Some longtime Trump supporters have said the current conflict is not what they expected from Trump, who campaigned on ending wars and «America First.»
«It feels like the worst betrayal this time because it comes from the very man and the admin who we all believed was different and said no more,» Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., wrote on X. «Instead, we get a war with Iran on behalf of Israel that will succeed in regime in Iran. Another foreign war for foreign people for foreign regime change. For what?»
In Pletka’s view, the president has shown a pattern of attempting diplomacy first and shifting to force only when he concludes negotiations are unserious. She argues that posture distinguishes the current moment from past interventions.
She also emphasized that much of the operational credit belongs to the professional military.
«The planning behind this is credit to the U.S. military and to the CENTCOM commander and to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs,» she said.
That distinction complicates efforts to attribute the current posture solely to Hegseth’s personal worldview. While the defense secretary has become a public face of the administration’s deterrence messaging, the execution of high-tempo campaigns rests heavily with career military leadership.
Some critics argue the administration has yet to clearly articulate an end state for the Iran campaign.
«Pete Hegseth needs to check with his boss on what the objective is,» former national security advisor John Bolton recently said on CNN. «How does Hegseth explain that we’ve already changed the regime, which wasn’t our objective? I think the Pentagon top leadership, civilian top leadership, needs some attitude adjustment. I think the military’s doing fine, but I wonder about the civilian leadership.»
The White House pushed back forcefully on criticism of the campaign.
Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, said Monday that Hegseth «is doing an incredible job leading the Department of War,» pointing to what she described as the «ongoing success of Operation Epic Fury» and other missions.
Kelly said Iranian retaliatory attacks «have declined by 90 percent because the Department of War is destroying Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities,» and added that Hegseth works «in lockstep with President Trump every day» to ensure the U.S. military «continues to be the greatest, most powerful fighting force in the world.»
The Pentagon echoed that assessment.
«Operation Epic Fury continues to advance with overwhelming success and precision,» Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said, describing a «resolute, full-spectrum campaign» aimed at the «total dismantlement of Iran’s terrorist network or its unconditional surrender.»
Others see the moment in broader historical terms.
Peter Doran, a foreign policy analyst, described the campaign as a potential attempt to «end a 47-year war» waged by the Islamic Republic against the United States, but on Washington’s terms.
U.S. Central Command released footage showing strikes on Iranian mobile missile launchers. (@CENTCOM via X)
«This is a clear effort to end a 47-year war that Iran has been waging against the United States,» Doran said.
He argued that visible American military performance could reverberate beyond the Middle East, particularly in Beijing.
«They look good,» Doran said of U.S. forces. «That will serve, I hope, as a disincentive for adventurism.»
If the operation ultimately succeeds in significantly degrading Iran’s military infrastructure, Doran argued, it could reshape the Middle East and expand diplomatic opportunities such as broader Arab-Israeli normalization.
«It changes everything in the Middle East,» he said.
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Yet even supporters acknowledge that long-term effects remain uncertain. In Venezuela, Maduro’s removal marked a dramatic shift in U.S. policy, but the governing apparatus he built remains largely intact. Degrading missile stockpiles and drone infrastructure in Iran may buy time, but whether it produces durable deterrence or simply postpones reconstitution remains to be seen.
For now, the administration’s willingness to take calculated risks and its ability to avoid immediate escalation have reinforced the perception of restored American assertiveness. Whether that assertiveness translates into lasting strategic gains will likely define Hegseth’s tenure far more than the rhetoric that preceded it.
Hegseth and the Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment.
war with iran,donald trump,pete hegseth,iran,pentagon
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