'Urgent matter for chain of command' as troops grapple with Trump 'dilemma': report

Members of the military attend a meeting convened by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, at Marine Corps Base Quantico, in Quantico, Virginia, U.S., September 30, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

President Donald Trump is creating an “urgent matter for chain of command" as military officers grapple with how to respond to fears of an "illegal" order from President Donald Trump, including the legal fallout of choosing to "help commit war crimes," the Guardian reports.

D"Trump’s threats to carry out mass bombing of civilian infrastructure in Iran present US military officers with a dilemma: disobey orders or help commit war crimes," reported The Guardian’s senior international correspondent Julian Borger.

As the report notes, "A military aide who is always close to the president would open the 'nuclear football,' a briefcase containing nuclear strike options as well as the codes to confirm his presidential authority. The only way to stop the order would be for those in the chain of command to deem it illegal."

Borger also pointed out that this once-theoretical situation is quite real for soldiers fighting under Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

“In recent days, Trump has amplified his threats, telling an ABC reporter that if Iran does not meet his demands ‘we’re blowing up the whole country,’” Borger wrote. “Asked if anything was off limits, he replied: ‘Very little.’ The extremity of Trump’s threats, coupled with his growing desperation to find a way out of the conflict, has increased fears that a volatile president could try to use a nuclear weapon.”

For instance, Borger reported that in America only the president has authority to order a nuclear launch, albeit with the complicity of the National Military Command Center. For this reason, Trump could in theory order mass bombing of civilian infrastructure without being stopped unless he faces resistance within the chain of command.

“It is an urgent matter for the US chain of command,” Borger reported. “In an [explicitive-laden] threat, Trump set a Tuesday 8pm Washington time deadline for the Iranian government to open the strait of Hormuz or face ‘Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one.'"

Borger is not alone in raising alarms about how Trump and Hegseth are running the U.S. Department of Defense. Former United States Navy pilot and Democratic congressional candidate Ken Harbaugh told former Republican presidential adviser Steve Schmidt that Hegseth’s open touting of Christian nationalism demoralizes the troops.

“I think one of the things that Hegseth clearly does not understand is how demoralizing his Christian nationalism is — how the military, while they used to laugh at him, are now appalled when he gives these speeches about ‘the lamentations of our enemies’ and ‘God will not hear their prayers,’” Harbaugh explained to Schmidt. “I don't know how someone has not briefed him that fully 30 percent of the American military identifies as non-Christian. And of the remaining 70 percent, I don't think most of them are hearing speeches about ‘Bashing your enemies’ heads against the wall’ and thinking, ‘Let's go kill some bad guys.’ They see the problem in that.”

Similarly Deputy Executive Director of the Taskforce on National and Homeland Security David Pyne tweeted earlier this month that he is “ashamed” to have once supported Hegseth.

“I defended Secretary of War Pete Hegseth from all of his scandals right up until the invasion of Iran,” Pyne wrote. “He was America First and reportedly counseled Trump against starting a war with Iran a year ago. Since that time he has gone full neocon warmonger and prayed publicly that God would help us kill the Iranian people. I am ashamed I ever supported him.”

Attached to Pyne’s post was Hegseth declaring dismay with “the foolishness with which we ricocheted around the world intervening, thinking it was in our best interest when really we just overturned the table and created something worse."

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