The Pentagon denied this Monday that the United States Secretary of War, Pete Hegsethhas tried to invest in important defense companies as revealed by the British newspaper ‘Financial Times’. The spokesperson for the Department of Defense, Sean Parnellhas labeled as “false and invented” the information in the economic newspaper that claimed that a stockbroker linked to Hegseth had sought to make a millionaire investment in a fund designed to invest in companies that manufacture weapons, aircraft and defense systems.
According to the British newspaper, Hegseth’s ‘broker’ in Morgan Stanley contacted in February BlackRock to make a multi-million dollar investment in the fund Defense Industrials Activea few days before the United States launched military action against Tehran. “This is another baseless and dishonest smear, designed to mislead the public. We demand an immediate retraction,” Parnell added on his official X account.
The case has generated a debate about transparency and possible conflicts of interest of officials with access to defense information, while analysts point out that financial movements in strategic sectors often receive media surveillance even without evidence of illegal conduct. This Monday, the president of the United States, Donald Trumpthreatened widespread destruction of Iran’s energy resources and other vital infrastructure, including desalination plantsif an agreement is not reached “soon” to end the war that is in its fifth week.
