A broker working for US secretary of war Pete Hegseth explored a major investment in defence-linked assets shortly before the US-Israeli military action against Iran, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.According to the report, the broker, affiliated with Morgan Stanley, reached out in February to BlackRock about putting a multimillion-dollar sum into a defence-focused exchange-traded fund. The outreach came weeks before the US joined Israel in launching strikes against Tehran.The investment ultimately did not materialise, as the fund, introduced last year, was not yet available for purchase through Morgan Stanley’s platform. The report did not clarify how much authority the broker had to act independently or whether Hegseth was aware of the move.BlackRock declined to comment, while Morgan Stanley and the Department of Defense did not immediately respond to requests for comment.The revelation comes amid broader scrutiny of trading activity in financial and prediction markets ahead of major policy decisions by US President Donald Trump.Last week, Trump, speaking at a roundtable with military and law enforcement officials, suggested that Hegseth had been among the first in his administration to advocate military action against Iran. He described internal deliberations leading up to the decision to join Israeli strikes, portraying Tehran as a persistent threat.“We have a country known as Iran that for 47 years has been just a purveyor of terror… and they’re very close to having a nuclear weapon.”He framed the choice in stark terms, adding: “We can keep going… or we can take a stop and make a little journey into the Middle East and eliminate a big problem.”Trump then pointed to Hegseth’s role in those discussions. “Pete, I think you were the first one to speak up… you said, ‘Let’s do it, because you can’t let them have a nuclear weapon.’”The comments appeared to place early momentum for the intervention on the Pentagon chief, even as the administration continues to offer differing explanations for its involvement. Officials have alternately cited an imminent nuclear threat from Iran and argued that US participation became unavoidable given Israel’s course of action.
