Hegseth, Gabbard, Leavitt faces the first major test of the Israel-Iran conflict

Three of the main Trump administration officials – Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt – are facing their first major profession Foreign policy tests in its high-profile management role after Israel launches a preemptive strike against Iran and the president Donald Trump Trade-offs involving the U.S. in the conflict.

The trio plays a wide range of fanfare among many magazine conservatives, although many critics questioned months ago whether their previous careers were ready for what was about to happen. The current tensions with the Islamic Republic may be the ultimate arbitrator.

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly was asked Wednesday about the trio’s test for Iran, President Trump led from the front, assembled a highly qualified world-class team that helped him achieve numerous foreign policy achievements this semester. “The American people trust the president to make the right decisions to ensure their safety, and he has given his team the moment to achieve this and promote his foreign policy goals. ”

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth

Secretary Heggs It was one of Trump’s more controversial nominees among critics, as Democratic lawmakers and left-wing experts slammed Hegseth for not having the right to do the job.

Iran warns us that joining the conflict will mean “total war” and refuses to abandon the demands of controversial nuclear program

“This hearing seems to be a hearing about whether women are eligible to serve in combat. Not about whether you are eligible to be Secretary of Defense,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Democratic, of Illinois, said in a confirmation hearing on the Senate Armed Forces Committee in January. “And I just want to say that the American people need a Secretary of Defense who is ready to lead on the first day. You are not that person.”

“Is Pete Heggs really the best we have to offer?” asked Sen. Jack Reed, a Democratic member of the committee ranking member of Rhode Island.

President Donald Trump speaks at the roundtable. (Evan Vucci/AP)

Hegseth, with the claim that he would lower the previous standards of the Secretary of Defense, would strengthen the military’s oath once he played the role and took into account the supervision of the entire army.

“As I said to many of you in our private meetings, when President Trump chose me for this position, the main accusation he gave me was bringing warrior culture back to the Department of Defense,” he said in his opening speech at the confirmation hearing. “He, like me, wanted a Pentagon laser with a focus on combat, lethality, elite management, standards and readiness. That’s it. That’s what I do.”

After Vice President, Heggs was confirmed to the position JD Vance Republicans sent out a tiebreaker vote when Republicans Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Mitch McConnell joined Democrats against the confirmation.

Hegseth, a Ivy League graduate and former National Guard official, was deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay during his military career, which began in 2003. He is also the winner of a few military awards, including two bronze stars. He appeared on the Senate Armed Forces Committee on Wednesday and was pressured to relate to the Israel-Iran conflict.

“They should have an agreement,” Heggs said.

“President Trump’s words mean something – the world understands that,” Heggs said, referring to the repeated pressure on Iran to reach a deal on its nuclear program as the conflict broke out.

Vance defends Trump’s Iranian position in “Social Media Crazy Things”

“Our job at the Department of Defense is to be ready for choice. That’s exactly what we’re doing.”

He did not say whether the United States would assist Israel in continuing strikes against Iran, but the Pentagon is preparing for Trump.

Any potential involvement in the strike could lead to the country’s war with Iran.

“I might do that, I might not do it,” Trump said Wednesday. “I mean, no one knows what I’m going to do.”

Hegseth is one of the high-profile Trump officials who joined Trump’s situation room in the White House as the president and his team closely monitor the outbreak of conflict.

Director of the National Intelligence Company Tulsi Gabbard. (John MacDonald/AP)

Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence

Minister of National Intelligence Gabad It was another Trump official facing a fierce confirmation hearing as critics believe she is not eligible for the position.

Gabbard, a former Democrat, served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2013 to 2021, and is a former member of the House Armed Services Committee and a veteran of the Iraq War. However, she never held a formal position in the intelligence community before she became the Director of National Intelligence.

Before confirmation, Gabbard critics critics slammed her lack of qualification for the role, questioning her judgment at a 2017 meeting with then-Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, posted her with sympathy for Russia and for her previous favorable remarks related to former national security agency Whistleblower Whistleblower Edward Sneken.

U.S. officials say

“Those who oppose my nomination mean that I am loyal to things other than God or others, my own conscience and the Constitution of the United States,” she said in the confirmation hearing. “Blame me.” It’s Trump’s puppetPutin’s puppet, Assad’s puppet, Grandmaster’s puppet, Modi’s puppet, does not recognize the absurdity of becoming five different puppet masters at the same time. ”

In the end, she was confirmed with 52-48 votes.

Smoke originated from the construction of Iran’s state-owned television station after an Israeli strike in Tehran, Iran on Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP Photo)

Gabbard’s March testimony before Senate dismisses concerns Iran After Israel launched a preemptive strike against Iran, actively building nuclear weapons returned to the US microscope. Israel’s strike was a direct response to Israeli intelligence, indicating that Iran could produce nuclear weapons in a short period of time.

Trump was asked about Gabbard’s testimony when he returned to Washington from Canada’s G7 summit on Monday night, and the president said he was not “concerned” about what Gabbard had to say in his previous testimony, and he believed he believed Iran was about to build nuclear weapons.

“You kept saying you didn’t believe Iran should be able to have nuclear weapons,” one reporter asked when he boarded the Air Force on Monday. “But personally how close do you think they want to get a?”

“Very close,” Trump replied.

“Because Tulsi Gabbard testified in March that the intelligence delegate said Iran did not build nuclear weapons.”

Trump shot back and said, “I don’t care what she said. I think they’re very close to having one.”

When Gabbard appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee in March, she issued a statement on behalf of the intelligence community, including testimony that Iran has not actively established nuclear weapons.

“Iran’s network operations and capabilities also pose a serious threat to the U.S. network and data,” Gabbard told the committee on March 26.

The intelligence community “continues to assess that Iran has not established nuclear weapons and that supreme leader Khamenei has not authorized his nuclear weapons program to be suspended in 2003.” She did add: “Iran’s abundant uranium storage is at the highest level and is unprecedented in countries without nuclear weapons.”

“Iran may continue to work hard Anti-Israel “And urge the U.S. military to withdraw from the region by assisting, arming and helping to rebuild its loose consortium of like-minded horror actors,” she warned.

But, as critics departed from Gabbard’s past comments, the White House stressed that Gabbard and Trump remained closely aligned in Iran.

A White House official told Fox News figures Tuesday afternoon that Trump and Gabbard were closely aligned and proposed a difference between Gabbard’s March testimony and Trump’s remarks that there is no difference in Iran’s “very close to getting nuclear weapons”.

The official noted that Gabbard emphasized in his March testimony that Iran had the potential to build nuclear weapons. Her testimony in March reflected intelligence, and what she received was that Iran had not built weapons at the time, but the country could do so based on the resources it had accumulated for its efforts.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Image)

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt

Leavitt is the youngest Press Secretary in American history, taking on the role of 27 years old.

Some liberal critics, such as Joy Behar of “The View”, tried to discount her appointment when she was first attacked by Trump, and since then, she has stood out at the daily White House press conference.

Although Leavitt has been praised by the president’s supporters for defending the government’s defense and has repeatedly communicated with the left-wing media in briefings, her tenure has overwhelmingly focused on domestic issues.

President Donald Trump is monitoring the conflict between Israel and Iran. (Alex Brandon/AP)

Leavitt keeps up to date on executive orders such as mass expulsion efforts, Trump’s ongoing list of executive orders, policies that affect transgender issues to electric vehicles, such as terrorist attacks against Jewish Americans, and Trump’s extensive tariff policies that influence foreign countries.

Despite the war between the government and Ukraine, and the ongoing war in Israel after Hamas attacked the country in 2023, the Israel-Iran conflict has provided Leavitt with her first major international crisis, which could include the involvement of the United States.

Since Leavitt’s highly anticipated first press conference, Israel’s preemptive strike is scheduled for Thursday.