Face the Nation host presses Pete Hegseth on Strait of Hormuz claims

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth nearly clashed with CBS’s Margaret Brennan on Sunday over claims of the U.S. controlling the Strait of Hormuz during the war. Hegseth insisted that Project Freedom successfully ensured free passage of ships through the strait on "Face the Nation," but Brennan was quick to fact-check him. This comes as the administration once again hinted that a peace deal is hours away from signing, with mediator Pakistan confirming an agreement and President Donald Trump claiming the Strait will be open soon.

Since the U.S. and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran, the critical shipping lane through which 20% of the world's crude oil passes has been effectively closed. The move from Tehran sent the oil markets into a frenzy, with gas prices in the U.S. reaching over $4. During his interview on Sunday, Hegseth was asked how soon the Strait will respond after a deal is signed. Hegseth insisted that the waterway will reopen "immediately," but the U.S. blockade will gradually be lifted. He then went on to press on the success of Project Freedom, the operation through which the U.S. military escorted cargo ships through the strait. 

“Project Freedom never stopped, and we’ve run 125 million barrels of oil through the strait, and Iran couldn’t do anything about it. How many ships from Iran have transited our blockade? Zero. We have controlled the Strait this entire time,” Hegseth said. Brennan then quickly checked the Defense Secretary, saying, “Right, still you're going to negotiate with them to reopen it.”

Hegseth was then asked if the Strait would return to normalcy and if shipping would return to pre-war levels. “We are doing things we're already talking, we're already doing things I can't talk about on this program, and that to ensure that safe passage happens as quickly as possible, so we're all over this,” he said. He added that once the deal is signed, he expects Iran to stop shooting drones at commercial shipping. 

The defense secretary seemingly had a meltdown as well when pressed on the ammunition the U.S. expended during the war. Referring to his testimony, Brennan asked if there was a weapons stockpile crisis in the U.S. to which Hegseth replied: "No, there is not. That is a manufactured story that the media wants to peddle." When Brennan reminded him of his testimony before Congress, where he made a $15 billion request to the Senate Armed Services Committee, insisting it could be months before the U.S. could replenish its military stockpile. "You don't have to read back to me what I testified," Hegseth snapped back. 

On the war front, chances of it ending looked ever so better after Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday said an agreement had been reached, the official signing ceremony would take place on Friday in Switzerland, the BBC reported. As per the publication, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi confirmed that a deal had been finalised in a phone call with state TV.    Meanwhile, Trump said the deal would be signed in a day before bragging on Truth Social that "This Great Deal will bring Peace and Security to the whole Region."