Former U.S. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene took direct aim at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday, accusing him of traveling to Israel to receive instructions from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on how to “totally wipe out Iran” — not, as the administration frames it, to consult on regional peace — as U.S. forces simultaneously struck over 80 Iranian targets in the latest round of retaliatory bombing.
Greene’s remarks came in a post on X published at 8:55 PM on July 7, 2026, the same evening U.S. Central Command publicly confirmed it had completed a new round of offensive strikes against Iran in response to Iranian attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. The post, characteristically sarcastic in tone, singled out Hegseth by name and raised pointed questions about who is actually directing U.S. war strategy in the Middle East.
The Post That Put Hegseth in the Crosshairs
In the post, which Greene published to her X account in full, she wrote:
“We are back to bombing Iran during the ceasefire for the Iran war that is not a war because Iran bombed a vessel for crossing the Strait of Hormuz that they don’t control yet apparently control. Not sure how they bombed the vessel because we have totally and completely obliterated their military and beat them in the war that is not a war like 40 times now. I’m so glad that Trump ran for president to end forever foreign wars otherwise I might start thinking this war that is not a war that we won like 40 times is starting to turn into another forever foreign war in the Middle East. Good thing Pete Hegseth, Secretary of the Department of Defense, I mean War, is headed to Israel to take orders from, I mean ask for advice, on how to totally wipe out Iran, I mean bring peace. I’m totally sure no one in the executive branch or donors will do any sort of insider trading based on super duper secret military decisions. You know the kind based on intelligence that Congress is going to fuse with Israel’s military after they all vote to pass the National Defense (war) Authorization Act. Because this is exactly what we all voted for when we said Make America Great Again.”
Hegseth’s Reported Israel Trip
Greene’s accusation was not made in a vacuum. Hegseth is in fact expected to travel to Israel on Wednesday, July 8, for his first official visit to the country since taking office — a trip confirmed by multiple outlets citing sources familiar with the schedule.
Hegseth is expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the Trump administration weighs plans to restore Turkey’s access to the F-35 fighter jet program. The visit comes after President Donald Trump signaled during the NATO summit in Turkey that he is open to allowing Ankara to obtain the advanced stealth aircraft again, a move that has drawn concern from Israeli officials and some Republicans in Washington.
According to reporting by Axios journalist Barak Ravid, Hegseth’s meeting with Netanyahu is also expected to focus on the recent Iranian attacks on commercial ships and U.S. strikes against Iranian military targets, and regional security.
CNN and Axios reported that Hegseth is expected to meet with Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz. A U.S. official familiar with the schedule told CNN that Hegseth is expected to separate from Trump’s delegation Wednesday and travel to Israel for high-level consultations. The Pentagon declined to comment on the reported trip, while the White House did not immediately issue a statement.
The Strike That Framed the Visit
The backdrop of Hegseth’s visit was set just hours before Greene’s post, when CENTCOM announced a new offensive against Iran. U.S. Central Command forces completed a new round of offensive strikes against Iran on July 7, hitting over 80 targets with precision munitions as an immediate response to Iran’s latest attacks on commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
The strikes targeted Iranian air defense systems, command and control networks, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile capabilities, and more than 60 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps small boats in and near the strait. Iran had attacked three commercial vessels — the Marshall Islands-flagged M/T Al Rekayyat, Saudi Arabia-flagged M/T Wedyan, and Liberian-flagged M/T Cyprus Prosperity — which CENTCOM characterized as a clear and dangerous violation of the ceasefire that undermines freedom of navigation.
Greene’s Broader Case Against the War’s Direction
Greene’s allegation that Hegseth is effectively going to Israel to “take orders” from Netanyahu reflects a suspicion she has voiced repeatedly throughout the conflict — that U.S. military decision-making is being shaped by Israeli interests rather than American ones.
Speaking to NewsNation in June, Greene said she believes Trump entered the conflict in part to support Israel, and questioned what Americans were getting out of their involvement. “Americans have gotten to the point where they’re saying, ‘What am I getting out of this?'” she said, citing rising health care costs and affordability issues for younger generations.
When Hegseth was asked in early March whether the U.S. would put boots on the ground in Iran, he did not rule it out. At a press briefing, he said: “No, but we’re not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do.” He added that it was a “fallacy” for the government to tell adversaries “here’s exactly what we will or will not do” — a posture that critics including Greene have argued leaves the public with more questions than answers about the war’s actual goals and limits.
A Pentagon Chief Under Scrutiny
Hegseth has faced sustained criticism throughout the Iran conflict, much of it from the right. His defense of Trump’s military operations against Iran drew sharp pushback from members of the former MAGA coalition who accused the administration of abandoning the “no more foreign wars” platform on which Trump, Vance, and others had campaigned.
Greene’s Tuesday post added the Pentagon chief’s name explicitly to that list of grievances — and the timing, arriving on the same night U.S. jets struck Iranian targets while Hegseth prepared to fly to Jerusalem, gave her words a pointed edge that his allies in the administration have not yet publicly answered.