Pete Hegseth

George served as Army Chief of Staff since August of 2023.

At the White House, Jared Halpern, Fox News.

And the United States is still committed to NATO's collective defense.

And as far as NATO is concerned, that's a decision that will be left to the president.

But I'll just say a lot has been laid bare.

A lot has been shown to the world about what our allies would be willing to do for the United States of America when we undertake an effort of this scope on behalf of the free world.

The President was clear this morning in his truth that there are countries around the world who ought to be prepared to step up on this critical waterway as well.

It's not just the United States Navy.

Last time I checked, there was supposed to be a big, bad Royal Navy that could be prepared to do things like that as well.

So he's pointing out

This is an international waterway that we use less than most, in fact, dramatically less than most.

So the world ought to pay attention and be prepared to stand up.

President Trump's been willing to do the heavy lifting on behalf of the free world to address this threat of Iran.

It's not just our problem set going forward.

And what he's simply saying, and it's exactly true, and I've said from this podium too, we're not going to foreclose any option.

You can't fight and win a war if you tell your adversary what you are willing to do or what you are not willing to do, to include boots on the ground.

Our adversary right now thinks there are 15 different ways we could come at them with boots on the ground.

And guess what?

There are.

So if we needed to, we could execute those options on behalf of the President of the United States and this department.