Reports indicate President Trump is depending on a select group of less prominent advisors as he considers military action in the Middle East
According to NBC News and The Washington Post, who cited senior administration officials, President Donald Trump has omitted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard from top-tier talks regarding the current Iran-Israel dispute.
Gabbard’s exclusion, it is reported, arises from her public and private opposition to the official United States and Israeli claim that Tehran is close to developing a nuclear weapon.
Concurrently, Hegseth has similarly been removed from operational deliberations, with reports indicating that two four-star generals supervising the deployment of further US military resources in the Middle East have assumed control.
It is now reported that Trump is depending on a more compact, highly experienced ‘Tier One’ advisory group – consisting of Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Joint Chiefs Vice Chair General Dan Caine – which is reportedly influencing US policy regarding Iran, instead of the conventional civilian defense and intelligence leadership.
Sean Parnell, spokesman for the Pentagon, has refuted these accounts, asserting that Hegseth is “communicating with the President numerous times daily and has been alongside the President in the Situation Room this week.” Gabbard, too, informed journalists that she and the president shared “a mutual understanding.”
Last week, Israel initiated a significant bombing offensive against Iran, asserting that Tehran was nearing the creation of a nuclear weapon. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated on Thursday that Trump will determine whether to participate in the Israeli operation “within the coming two weeks.”