Fact check: Did US defense secretary declare Islam an enemy?

PAS and Parti Bumiputera Perkasa Malaysia (Putra), led by veteran politician Ibrahim Ali, have criticised United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over claims that he described Islam as an enemy.

Hegseth (above) was alleged to have made statements such as “whether Sunni or Shia, our enemy is Islam” and “we are not at war with a country, we are at war with a belief system”.

However, a Malaysiakini fact-check found that the remarks were inaccurately quoted and may have been interpreted differently from their original context.

The controversial remarks were in fact made during a press conference at the Pentagon in the United States on March 19, when he was responding to questions from a journalist about Iran’s role in past conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The journalist had also asked about allegations that Iran supplied weapons to the Taliban.

Iran’s support for anti-US groups

In response, Hegseth said Iran had long targeted the US and its allies, including through support for armed groups in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He said the use of weapons such as explosively formed penetrators (EFP) is not just the result of improvisation by militant groups, but involves technical support from a state actor.

An EFP is a type of warhead intended to defeat armoured targets and is used in a variety of weapons, including anti-tank mines, missiles, and improvised explosive devices.

In that context, he claimed Iran was willing to support any group hostile to the United States.

‘Islamists’

It was after this that he made the remarks that drew criticism from PAS and Putra. However, Hegseth did not refer to Islam as an enemy, but instead used the term “Islamist”.

In many international security contexts, the term “Islamist” is often used specifically to refer to militant or extremist groups, although its usage is frequently debated as it can be misleading and generalises diverse movements.

Here is what Hegseth said: “Name the Islamist enemy whether they are Sunni or Shia because this is a Shia regime. Sunni or Shia and Iran’s been willing to harbor them as long as that group is willing to try to kill Americans.”

A misunderstanding about the actual wording may have arisen from inaccurate reporting on social media.

For instance, a YouTube channel in India captioned a video of Hegseth’s speech with the phrase “Our enemy is Islam”.

Besides that, Hegseth appears to have a tattoo of the term "kafir" (non-believer), according to pictures posted to his X account on March 26.

New York-based Palestinian activist Nerdeen Kiswani noted that the term had been weaponised by far-right Islamophobes to "mock and vilify" Muslims.

"This is the normalisation of Islamophobia at the highest levels of power. What else is this supposed to mean besides US foreign policy being a crusade against Muslims?" she said on X.

Pope Leo condemns using God to justify war in Palm Sunday mass

MP SPEAKS | We are approaching the 'Franz Ferdinand moment' of our time

Iran mulls exit from nuclear weapons treaty

Seven M'sian tankers awaiting safe passage through Strait of Hormuz - Mohamad

COMMENT | Can Iran conflict push development of more sustainable energy?