Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” against the backdrop of a fast-moving morning, defending the administration’s handling of the U.S.-Iran peace framework while sparring with host Margaret Brennan over the state of American military stockpiles.

Hegseth joined the program from Tennessee as Israeli forces had struck Hezbollah targets in the southern suburbs of Beirut hours earlier, in what the IDF called retaliation for Hezbollah drone attacks on northern Israel.

Asked whether the Beirut strike had derailed plans for a deal signing Sunday, Hegseth pushed back firmly. “From all I know, we are on track,” he said. “It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.” He added that Hezbollah “need to stop” firing rockets into Israel and that Iran needed to encourage its proxy forces to stand down “in very adamant ways.” He described the Israeli military response as “very measured,” and said he did not expect the Beirut strike to disrupt negotiations.

Hegseth’s measured tone stood in contrast to President Trump’s public statements earlier in the morning, in which Trump described himself as “so pissed off” at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said the strike had delayed the signing by several hours.

On the terms of the emerging agreement, Hegseth offered a broad defense of the deal’s nuclear provisions. He said Iran would be required to either allow the United States to remove its nuclear material or downblend it, with any future access subject to oversight and performance conditions. He suggested the International Atomic Energy Agency could have a role in verification.

Brennan pressed Hegseth on whether those critical details had actually been finalized, noting that CBS has reported American military planners had discussed contingencies involving U.S. forces and the Department of Energy working together to secure Iranian nuclear materials.

The interview grew heated when Brennan raised the issue of U.S. military stockpiles depleted during the Iran war. “Let me ask you before you go about what is going on with U.S. munitions and stockpiles here,” Brennan said, noting Ukrainian President Zelensky had recently appealed for increased Patriot interceptor production, a request backed by some Republican lawmakers.

Hegseth insisted the concerns were overblown. “Nobody makes better and more munitions than the United States of America,” he said. “Our stockpiles are strong, and it will only get stronger in the future.”

When Brennan responded that there was “a crisis with those stockpiles right now in private industry,” Hegseth cut her off. “That is a manufactured story that the media wants to peddle!”

Brennan replied that Hegseth himself had testified to the shortage before Congress. “You testified under oath that it would take years to rebuild those stockpiles,” she noted.

“You don’t have to read back to me what I testified,” Hegseth shot back. “I speculated some munitions take more time than others. We’ve got lots of them, we’re building more than ever before.”

In testimony before Congress in May, Hegseth had said it could take “months and years, depending on the weapon system” to rebuild the U.S. military stockpile.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)