Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth quoted the Bible — specifically the Old Testament — on Tuesday during remarks on the progress of the war against Iran, leaving some to express concerns about Christian nationalism and his potentially executing a holy or religious war.

Noting that he had just returned from Dover Air Force Base to accept the dignified transfer of another service member killed in the Iran war, Hegseth said, “I’ll close with Scripture, drawing strength from Psalm 144.”

“Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle,” he said. “He is my loving God and my fortress. My stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge. May the Lord grant unyielding strength and refuge to our warriors. Unbreakable protection to them in our homeland. And total victory over those who seek to harm them. Amen.”

Critics slammed his introduction of the religious text.

At The New Republic, Malcolm Ferguson wrote: “The Christian nationalist undertones of this war are getting even more obvious.”

READ MORE: ‘Looking to Throw in the Towel?’: Trump Mocked as Administration Again Switches Priorities

“Listening to Hegseth read Psalm 144 feels like an ominous justification for further aggression rather than a comforting message,” Ferguson said.

“While it’s a lovely verse traditionally attributed to King David, it does not accurately portray the reality of the situation whatsoever,” he wrote. “The United States is the Goliath of this story, along with Israel. The countries’ joint attacks of aggression have killed over 1,200 Iranians, many of them young schoolgirls. Iranian fuel depots were hit so hard that oil rained from the sky in Tehran on Sunday. Seven American service members have died because a president who promised peace sent them to war for money and regime change, not liberation.”

Professor of public policy Josh Cowen responded to Secretary Hegseth’s reading of scripture: “He could have chosen Jesus’s words ‘Blessed are they who mourn’ or if he was really craving a psalm, ‘The Lord is my shepherd.'”

“Instead he’s sporting militant quotes not to assuage grief but to justify his actions that caused it,” Cowen said.

Dutch journalist Michael van der Galien, according to a translation on X, called it “concerning that Pete Hegseth uses a passage from the Old Testament to suggest that God would bless a specific war between America, Israel, and Iran.”

“From a Catholic perspective, war is always a tragedy and only justified under strict conditions of just war theory, such as self-defense and the protection of innocents, not as a divine mandate.”

Professor Massimo Faggioli, a Church historian, according to a translation on X, wrote of Hegseth’s Scripture quoting, “they’ll do absolutely anything to make it look like a religious war.”

Secretary Hegseth: “Today will be yet again our most intense day of strikes inside Iran.” pic.twitter.com/ufuayD70RK

— CSPAN (@cspan) March 10, 2026

READ MORE: Cracks Widen as Trump Presses GOP on Hardline Voter ID Plan

President Donald Trump is facing opposition from some prominent Republicans over his hardline voter ID bill.

The controversial SAVE America Act barely scraped by in the House of Representatives and has languished in the Senate for weeks, but President Trump is pressuring Republicans not only to pass it — he has added demands that would make it even harder for Republicans and Democrats to support the legislation.

Trump wants the bill to curtail mail-in voting and has called for anti-transgender language to be added to it.

Now, as House Republicans convene for a three-day meeting at his Doral Golf Resort in Florida, he’s urging GOP leaders to act immediately.

On Monday, Trump told House Republicans in a televised speech that they must pass the SAVE Act because if they do, Democrats “probably won’t win an election for 50 years, and maybe longer.”

READ MORE: ‘Looking to Throw in the Towel?’: Trump Mocked as Administration Again Switches Priorities

He also threatened to sign no other legislation until the SAVE Act comes to his desk — a proposition some Democratic lawmakers did not find objectionable.

“GOP leaders now have to drum up support from members reluctant to dive into the culture war of transgender politics when they’d prefer to focus on affordability,” Politico reports. “And the mail voting provision was left off the package last time for a reason.”

Over in the Senate, several Republicans “signaled Monday they aren’t behind the president’s call to significantly limit mail-in ballots, touting the success of the practice in their own states.”

“I don’t want the federal government telling me that I can’t have mail-in voting or absentee ballot voting,” Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) told reporters. “There’s nothing wrong with mail-in voting if you have the right standards in place.”

Trump is also continuing to pressure Senate Republican Majority Leader John Thune to commit to a talking filibuster to pass the bill — a move Thune strenuously opposes.

Leader Thune “delivered a public reality check on the ‘complicated and risky’ idea Monday,'” Politico noted.

“Having studied it and researched it pretty thoroughly, you have to show me how, in the end, it prevails and succeeds,” Thune told reporters on Monday, as NBC News reported. “Because I think what has been promised out there is that it would actually, in the end, get an outcome. And I find it very hard to see that based on actual past experience.”

“We can’t find a piece of legislation in history that’s been passed that way,” he added.

Seeking to avoid “a bruising internal filibuster fight,” Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) “floated passing the SAVE America Act through reconciliation Monday, despite the lack of a clear budget connection.”

READ MORE: ‘Tell Me It’s Satire’: WaPo Roasted for Op-Ed Linking Lattes to Destruction of Society

Image via Reuters

President Donald Trump is drawing mockery after telling a CBS News reporter that his war in Iran is “very complete, pretty much,” as the administration’s military priorities continue to shift rapidly.

In the early hours of the war, Trump had strongly suggested it was about regime change, only to have his defense secretary days later specifically state it was not.

On Monday, apparently around the time he had a telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump said Iran has “no navy, no communications, they’ve got no Air Force.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio made similar remarks earlier on Monday.

“The goals of this mission are clear, and it’s important to continue to remind the American people of why it is that the greatest military in history of the world has engaged in this operation,” he told reporters. “It is to destroy the ability of this regime to launch missiles, both by destroying their missiles and their launchers. Destroy the factories that make these missiles, and destroy their Navy.”

Days earlier, Trump had called for Iran’s “unconditional surrender.”

Professor of Strategic Studies Phillips P. O’Brien responded to Rubio’s remarks, saying: “If this is actually the new set of strategic goals, the Trump administration is admitting that they have strategically failed and this has been a disaster.”

Specifically referencing Trump’s remarks to CBS News, Professor O’Brien added, “So is this Trump looking to throw in the towel?”

Foreign policy analyst Jimmy Rushton observed, “No mention of removing the regime. No mention of destroying the Iranian nuclear programme. No mention of destroying Iran’s ability to project power via proxy forces. The administration’s war aims are constantly changing.”

Similarly, political scientist Ian Bremmer noted, “declaring victory and ending war with iran much easier with these goals. not mentioned: -regime change -uranium enrichment/stockpiling -attack drones.”

SECRETARY RUBIO: The goals of the mission against the Iranian regime are clear:
– Destroy their ability to launch missiles
– Destroy factories making these missiles
– Destroy their navy pic.twitter.com/KPUpMGNtDf

— Department of State (@StateDept) March 9, 2026

Image via Reuters