US denies report claiming War Secretary tried to buy defence stock before Iran war

US Pentagon has denied a Financial Times report which claimed War Secretary Pete Hegseth tried to make a multimillion-dollar investment in defence companies ahead of US-Israeli attack on Iran. "This is yet another baseless...smear designed to mislead the public," US Pentagon Chief Spokesperson Sean Parnell said. Hegseth's broker at Morgan Stanley had approached BlackRock for it, report alleged.