Is Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth waging a holy war against Iran?
Americast
BBC
4.3 • 3.1K Ratings
🗓️ 10 April 2026
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Why has Hegseth fired top generals from the military, and how does he use religion to justify America’s war aims? We look at the frontman for the US war in Iran, the former Fox News host, Pete Hegseth. A key feature of his Pentagon press briefings are his religious rhetoric, which may reveal the motivation behind his reforms of the U.S. military.
Despite only narrowly making it through the confirmation process to become defense secretary in the first place, Hegseth has become a key figure in the White House as he looks to reshape the Pentagon by rolling back on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies and removing many key figures at the top of the Pentagon.
Justin Webb and Anthony Zurcher, speak to Eric Schmitt from The New York Times, a longtime national security correspondent who recently left his press desk inside the Pentagon after refusing to accept new Trump administration rules that restrict their movements and who they can talk to. Justin and Eric discuss the reasons why Donald Trump wanted Hegseth in post, the impact so far of the changes he is making inside the Pentagon, and whether he is eyeing up a presidential run of his own one day.
Presenter: Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter and Anthony Zurcher, North America correspondent Proudcer: George Dabby with Alix Pickles Technical producer: Mike Regaard Editor: Sam Bonham
Get in touch: • Join our online community: discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB • Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480 • Email Americast@bbc.co.uk • Or use #Americast
If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app.
You can now listen to Americast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Americast”. It works on most smart speakers.
US Election Unspun: Sign up for Anthony’s BBC newsletter: bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68093155
Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including Newscast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below.
Newscast: bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p05299nl Radical: bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0gg4k6r The Global Story: bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvsd
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:05.0 | He calls himself the Secretary of War. |
| 0:08.2 | Pete Hegeseth, the Defense Secretary, has become the face of the Trump administration's war with Iran. |
| 0:14.6 | His briefings about that war delivered in a way like a sermon. |
| 0:19.1 | Shot down on a Friday. Good Friday, hidden in a cave, a crevice all of Saturday, and rescued |
| 0:29.3 | on Sunday, flown out of Iran as the sun was rising on Easter Sunday. |
| 0:37.2 | A pilot reborn, all home and accounted for a nation rejoicing. |
| 0:44.2 | God is good. He is a Christian. He is muscular. Pete Hegeseth is bringing an ideological vision to the |
| 0:51.4 | Pentagon that in many respects, previous defense secretaries simply haven't had. |
| 0:56.6 | So what is it that makes him so different? How is he changing the Pentagon and indeed America's |
| 1:02.0 | ability to fight wars? Welcome to AmeriCast. |
| 1:07.9 | AmeriCast from BBC News You hear that sound? |
| 1:12.1 | Oh, I think when I hear that sound, it reminds me of money. |
| 1:15.8 | We didn't start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it. |
| 1:20.1 | This is a big cover-up, and this administration is engaged in it. |
| 1:23.4 | This guy has Trump-arrangement syndrome. |
| 1:25.3 | I have four words for you. |
| 1:28.9 | Turn the volume up. |
| 1:34.6 | Hello, it's Justin in the worldwide command bunker of AmeriCast in London, England. |
| 1:39.8 | And it's Anthony and the American headquarters of AmeriCast at the BBC Bureau in Washington, D.C. And the reason I'm in the bunker is that I want to impress Pete Heggs. I think he listened to AmeriCaths, which who knows maybe he does? Because he's very tuned, isn't he? Anthony to the media, because that, frankly, is his background, much more than, I think I'm right in saying, aren't I, any other defense secretary there has ever been? |
| 2:02.9 | Yeah, I think that's safe to say. He came over from Fox News, where he was a weekend program host. |
| 2:09.4 | Of course, he does have a military background. He was in the National Guard, I believe, a major, so not a high-ranking officer, but he does have a military background. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.