Arabic version: البنتاغون يرفض مزاعم محاولة استثمار دفاعي قبل الحرب

The United States Department of Defense has demanded the retraction of a report suggesting that a broker for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sought to invest in weapons companies prior to the war on Iran. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell issued the demand following an article in The Financial Times that claimed a wealth manager connected to Hegseth had approached BlackRock about a multimillion-dollar investment in a defense-related fund shortly before the war began.

According to Al Jazeera, Parnell labeled the allegations as “entirely false and fabricated,” asserting that neither Hegseth nor his representatives approached BlackRock regarding such an investment. He described the claims as a “baseless, dishonest smear” aimed at misleading the public.

The report indicated that Hegseth’s broker at Morgan Stanley ultimately did not proceed with the investment in an exchange-traded fund that includes major defense contractors like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, as the fund was not yet available for purchase at that time. Despite the lack of investment, the report has raised questions about the timing of financial activities related to the ongoing conflict.

The Pentagon has emphasized that Hegseth and his department are committed to maintaining high ethical standards and complying with all relevant laws and regulations. The Defense Department did not provide immediate comments outside regular business hours, and inquiries sent to The Financial Times and Morgan Stanley also went unanswered. BlackRock declined to comment on the matter.