{"id":954,"date":"2026-07-05T15:06:58","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T15:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/?p=954"},"modified":"2026-07-05T15:06:58","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T15:06:58","slug":"wh-refutes-report-on-trump-considering-removal-of-hegseth-ratcliffe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/?p=954","title":{"rendered":"WH Refutes \u2018Report\u2019 On Trump Considering Removal Of Hegseth, Ratcliffe"},"content":{"rendered":"

The White House has denied \u201creports\u201d that President Donald Trump was considering a major cabinet shake-up.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reports have surfaced claiming that Trump is considering firing War Secretary Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Ratcliffe over their alleged objections to the peace agreement with Iran.<\/p>\n

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This was first reported by Israel Hayom, who cited anonymous sources familiar with the administration.<\/p>\n

It implied that internal debates over the Iran deal were finished and that officials who had voiced reservations could face issues.<\/p>\n

Hegseth and Ratcliffe were among those who could be impacted, with an alleged source quoted as saying, \u201cThe debate has been settled. Anyone who stood against it could pay a personal price.\u201d<\/p>\n

The story, later reported by the Daily Express, was linked to broader discussions within the administration about the terms of the deal, including fears Iran was not living up to its nuclear-related commitments.<\/p>\n

Those accounts said Hegseth, Ratcliffe, and others, including, in some accounts, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, had raised questions in internal deliberations about the viability of Iran\u2019s concessions.<\/p>\n

This was a stark contrast to the support of figures like Vice President JD Vance and envoys involved in the negotiations.<\/p>\n

The reporting said the differences were potential reasons for personnel changes as talks continue following weeks of tensions between the U.S. and Iran.<\/p>\n

In response, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly issued a clear denial.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have never heard of this \u2018reporter,\u2019\u201d Kelly posted on X while tagging Israel Hayom reporter Danny Zaken. \u201cUntil he started consistently pushing fake news without reaching out to the White House for comment. To be clear, this clown has no idea what he is talking about and his \u2018sources\u2019 are probably the voices in his head.\u201d<\/p>\n

High-level peace talks between the United States and Iran have concluded, mediators said Monday, with the \u201cimmediate\u201d launch of a new round of lower-level technical discussions this week in Switzerland.<\/p>\n

The two sides agreed on a road map aimed at reaching a final agreement within 60 days, according to a joint statement from the mediators, Pakistan, and Qatar.<\/p>\n

A communication channel was also established to prevent \u201cincidents and misunderstandings\u201d and to ensure the safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, the mediators said, calling the progress \u201cencouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Vance had begun the talks on Sunday, expressing hope that the two sides could make progress.<\/p>\n

At the same time, back in Washington, President Trump issued a firm warning of fresh attacks on Tehran if it blocked the reopening of the strait\u2014showing the kind of strong leadership that has forced Iran back to the table.<\/p>\n

Despite the typical Iranian bellicosity, negotiators from the two countries \u2014 along with mediators from Pakistan and Qatar \u2014 held about 18 hours of intensive talks and consultations at the Swiss resort of B\u00fcrgenstock.<\/p>\n

The B\u00fcrgenstock gathering, dubbed the Lake Lucerne Summit, is part of a 60-day effort to build on the recently announced U.S.-Iran ceasefire and establish a broader deal to end the war and address concerns about Iran\u2019s nuclear program.<\/p>\n

Tensions flared over the weekend after Iran, in typical fashion, said it was closing the Strait of Hormuz in response to Israeli actions against Hezbollah in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

U.S. Central Command said Saturday that commercial vessels were still passing through the waterway, underscoring that Tehran\u2019s threats often amount to bluster when confronted with American resolve.<\/p>\n

The safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz is critical to bringing down global oil prices.<\/p>\n

In a phone interview on Sunday with Fox News\u2019s Trey Yingst, Trump threatened to attack Iran and take over the Strait of Hormuz if Tehran interfered with passage through the waterway.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou close [the Strait of Hormuz] and you won\u2019t have a country,\u201d Trump said he told Iranian officials, Yingst posted on X \u201cYou won\u2019t even make it back to your fu*king country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump also underscored the threat in a Truth Social post in which he urged Iran to stop Hezbollah militants in Lebanon from \u201ccausing trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they don\u2019t, we\u2019ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The White House has denied \u201creports\u201d that President Donald Trump was considering a major cabinet shake-up. Reports have surfaced claiming that Trump is considering firing War Secretary Pete Hegseth and … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=954"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":956,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954\/revisions\/956"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}