After months of reporting about Russia taking deliberate steps to assist Iran during the U.S. war, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told senators during a congressional hearing last week that Russia is, in fact, “enabling some of the things Iran is doing.”
Evidently, Donald Trump isn’t sure whether to believe his own Pentagon chief or not.
Six weeks ago, as the Group of Seven summit in France was wrapping up, the American president offered some curious praise to his friend in Moscow. “I want to thank Vladimir Putin, he was very neutral,” the Republican said, referring to the Russian president’s role in the war with Iran. Even at the time, the comment was bizarre, given the overwhelming evidence that Putin hasn’t been neutral at all.
Late last week, on the heels of Hegseth’s testimony, Trump reiterated his belief that Russia, in his “opinion,” is “not participating” in the war. In a statement published to his social media platform, he added that his beliefs were based on private assurances he said he received from Putin.
Hours later, asked about the contradiction between Hegseth’s line and the Kremlin’s, the American president again said he “trusts” what he’s been told by the Russian leader.
One day later, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced new plans to share intelligence about Russia’s latest assistance to Iran — the latest in a series of such declarations. Zelenskyy previously said his country’s government had “irrefutable” evidence Russia had provided intelligence to the Iranian regime during the war, but he simply couldn’t get the White House to take an interest in it.
So when Trump fielded questions from reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday afternoon, one of them noted the intelligence from Zelenskyy.
“We’ll find out if that’s true,” the American president replied. “I’ll ask Putin about it.”
First, it’s not at all clear what more Trump needs to see. U.S. officials have confirmed Russia’s role in providing intelligence help to Iran; Iranian officials have publicly confirmed Russia’s “military cooperation”; Hegseth told Congress as recently as last week about Russia helping Iran; and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz, the former White House national security adviser, publicly acknowledged months ago Russia’s wartime “strategic partnership” with Iran.
Trump himself conceded in March that he believed Russia “might be” assisting Iran, but he added that Putin’s regime deserves a pass because the U.S. has assisted Ukraine.
“We’ll find out if that’s true”? Shouldn’t Trump have a pretty clear idea by now whether it is true?
But Trump’s suggestion that he would “ask Putin about it” is every bit as remarkable. The Republican’s own defense secretary already acknowledged reality just days ago, but the American president apparently wants to double-check with the suspected Russian war criminal and former KGB agent whose word he appears willing to accept at face value for reasons the White House has never even tried to explain.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
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