Pete Hegseth’s broker attempted to make defense investments before Iran war

According to the Financial Times, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s broker was looking to make a major investment in major defense companies ahead of the Iran war. The Pentagon denied the report.

The Financial Times reported on Tuesday. Hegseth’s broker at banking giant Morgan Stanley He approached BlackRock in February about making a multimillion-dollar investment in the iShares Defense Industrials Active ETF.

The ETF, which has about $3.1 billion in assets, counts companies such as RTX Corp, formerly Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman among its largest holdings. Blackrock showed the data.

According to LSEG data, the Defense Industry Active ETF lost 12.4 percent of its value in the last month, which coincided with the start of the Iran war.

The FT also said that the investment discussed by Hegseth’s broker ultimately did not materialize because the fund was not yet available for Morgan Stanley clients to purchase at the time. It was also unknown whether the broker had found any other defense-related investments.

Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell denied FT report In a post on XHe called it “completely false and fabricated” and demanded that the FT retract the article.

Parnell said neither Hegseth nor his representatives approached BlackRock about such an investment. “This is yet another baseless, dishonest smear designed to mislead the public,” he added.

The US war against Iran has entered its fifth week, and the conflict appears to show no signs of abating.

US Marines arrived in the region The Washington Post reported It was stated that the Pentagon was “preparing for ground operations in Iran that will last for weeks.”

Trump also said on Monday that if the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz is not reopened “immediately” and a peace agreement is not reached “shortly”, the US will “completely” destroy Iran’s electricity generation facilities, oil wells and Kharg Island.