Trump’s defense chief is talking his way into war crimes: expert

President Donald Trump speaks next to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., April 10, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has deployed a lot of over-the-top rhetoric to try and spin the success of President Donald Trump's war in Iran, but according to a new analysis from MS NOW, some of his words may have opened him up to prosecution for war crimes.

Brian Finucane is a senior adviser for the U.S. Program at the International Crisis Group, which focuses on developing and advocating for strategies that lessen the reliance on military intervention in foreign affairs. In a piece for MS NOW on Tuesday, he highlighted a troubling phrase from Hegseth's March 13 press briefing about the state of the conflict with Iran, which could indicate that he is pushing the military into territory that violates U.S. and international laws around warfighting.

"We will keep pushing, keep advancing. No quarter, no mercy for our enemies," Hegseth said during the briefing last week.

According to Finucane, the secretary's pledge of "no quarter" could put him in major legal hot water. The phrase refers to the practice of refusing to take prisoner any subdued enemy soldiers who no longer pose a threat, and opting instead to execute them. As Finucane explained, such practices have been outlawed by the U.S. since the Civil War, with such provisions being added to international treaties that the U.S. has been a part of ever since then as well.

"Hegseth’s declaration of 'no quarter' implicates a foundational prohibition under the law of war," he explained. "These are the binding rules agreed to by states that seek to mitigate the horrors and bloodshed of conflict through pragmatic balancing of humanitarian and military considerations. The prohibition of the denial of quarter is a paradigmatic illustration of the law of war advancing both sets of considerations."

Finucane further argued that Hegseth's mere mention of "no quarter" runs afoul of the "Department of Defense’s own Law of War Manual," which includes "a prohibition on simply declaring no quarter itself." Hegseth, therefore, may be liable for breaking war crimes law, even if no evidence of "no quarter" practices emerges from Iran.

"Once a television personality, Hegseth may have intended his bellicose rhetoric as a made-for-TV flourish," Finucane wrote. "But his job description is different now. Despite his civilian attire, the Secretary of Defense is a military leader in the chain of command. Whether he appreciates it or not, his words alone have legal significance."

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