As President Trump searches urgently for a way out of his nearly six-month conflict with Iran, two very different strategies are competing for his attention inside the Cabinet.
Pete Hegseth has continued to champion the use of overwhelming military power, while Trump has increasingly shown interest in the approach favored by Scott Bessent, whose influence rests on a quieter but potentially more precise instrument.
‘One is a sledge-hammer and the other is a scalpel,’ a source familiar with Trump’s thinking told the Daily Mail, drawing a sharp contrast between the Secretary of War and the Treasury Secretary.
Trump is said to have vented about his Secretary of War during a Camp David retreat earlier this month, expressing anger over shortages of key U.S. defense munitions and frustration with Hegseth because he believed the problem ‘had been fixed.’
Hegseth, along with others close to the president, ‘tells Trump what he wants to hear,’ the insider said, reflecting broader Republican concerns on Capitol Hill about the influence of military advisers seen as too willing to act as Trump’s ‘yes-men.’
‘Hegseth is afraid of Trump and won’t be as honest as he should about the war for fear of losing his job,’ a GOP member on the House Armed Services Committee told the Daily Mail last month.
When Trump assembles his A-team to discuss the war, his favorite money man is not the first to come to mind when imagining who is counseling the commander-in-chief on the conflict.
Inside Situation Room briefings, Trump goes down the line asking his top generals and National Security Council members to relay their latest assessments.
President Donald Trump has tasked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (center) with overseeing the new economic phase of his war against Iran. Bessent’s elevation comes after reports that the president has expressed frustration with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (right)
During an early August retreat at Camp David, shown above, the president was reportedly bewildered when Hegseth laid bare how low the US arsenal of critical missiles was, prompting Trump to question the Secretary of War
Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Dan Caine, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others all get a chance to update the commander-in-chief, a source familiar with the proceedings told the Daily Mail.
But recently, Trump has been elevating Bessent in these settings.
Speaking at the Treasury building on Monday, Bessent unveiled Operation Economic Outcast, a drive to sanction Iran and its trading partners into negotiations after an on-again, off-again bombing campaign produced little.
‘The environment changed,’ the Trump insider said, describing a realization inside the administration that it simply ‘can’t bludgeon them anymore.’
Reports of dwindling US stocks of air-defense missiles and other munitions have coincided with the pivot toward economic pressure and away from conventional strikes.
Since the Washington Post first reported the Camp David frustrations, the US has not publicly acknowledged a single strike on Iran.
The last confirmed attack came on July 29, when US Central Command announced a ‘heavy wave of strikes’ on dozens of targets inside the Islamic Republic.
The month-long pause appears to be the longest stretch without a publicly confirmed American strike since the war began on February 28.
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Bessent was already closer to the fight than most realized.
He holds a seat on the National Security Council and has ‘always had a big role in Iran,’ an administration official said, using Treasury’s sanctions powers to choke the regime’s oil revenues and disrupt billions in profits.
‘Hegseth is afraid of Trump and won’t be as honest as he should about the war for fear of losing his job,’ a GOP member on the House Armed Services Committee told the Daily Mail last month
President Trump desperately looks for an exit from his nearly six-month war with Iran
‘He’s very trusted,’ the source close to the president said. ‘It’s not just on Iran, his stock is increasing. He’s just more and more involved in things.’
Seen as a straight shooter, Bessent has earned Trump’s confidence both behind the scenes and in front of the cameras.
That matters with an election approaching.
As the White House trades its hot war for a military detente backed by a furious economic crackdown, the president’s advisers are wary of letting Iran dominate the midterms. Bessent can tout frozen Iranian assets one minute and answer for grocery prices the next, a combination no one else in the Cabinet offers.
‘Bessent is just the person they roll out,’ the source close to Trump said. ‘As the midterms come up it’s economy, economy, economy.’
Despite his growing influence, Bessent does have distinct vulnerabilities. His credibility with bond markets has suffered, efforts to lower borrowing costs have had mixed results and his Operation Economic Outcast strategy now faces the crucial test of whether it can compel Iran’s trading partners to fall in line.
Hegseth’s allies insist the Treasury Secretary’s promotion is not a demotion for the Secretary of War.
‘There are limits to how much militarily will be accepted by the public and by the Congress,’ a senior Department of War official close to Hegseth told the Daily Mail. ‘The economic measures complement the bombing campaign.’ The new phase is ‘a much better strategy,’ the official added.
Still, Hegseth has all but conceded the strikes are losing their bite.
‘Economic pressure hurts them the most right now,’ he said Monday, hours after Bessent’s press conference. ‘If we need to use kinetic strikes, we’ll use them. If Iran is foolish enough to overplay their hand or mess with the American military, we’ll do what we need to do.’
He has also lauded Bessent’s new economic operation and noted how he is in full cooperation with the war’s new phase, a Department of War official pointed out.
The White House says both secretaries stand on equal footing.
‘Secretary Bessent has been involved throughout this entire conflict, and Secretary Hegseth will continue to be heavily involved,’ a White House official said.