Pete Hegseth's Broker Tried To Buy Defence Fund Before Iran War? What US Said

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's broker attempted to make a big investment in major defence companies in the weeks leading up to the US-Israeli attack on Iran, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The Pentagon has, however, called the report "entirely false and fabricated" and demanded its retraction. According to the FT report, Hegseth's broker at Morgan Stanley approached BlackRock in February, days before the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, about making a multimillion-dollar investment in the asset manager's Defence Industrials Active ETF. The inquiry on behalf of the high-profile potential client was flagged internally at BlackRock, the report said. The publication did not specify how much discretion the broker had to make investments on Hegseth's behalf, or whether Hegseth knew what the broker was doing. It, however, added that the investment did not ultimately go ahead, as the fund, which launched in May last year, was not yet available for Morgan Stanley clients to buy.