The Pentagon chief's 'broker' tried to invest in a defense fund before the attack on Iran, according to the 'Financial Times'

A broker linked to the US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, reportedly attempted a multi-billion dollar investment in the arms sector weeks before the joint attack by the United States and Israel on Iran, according to the Financial Times, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Specifically, a Morgan Stanley stockbroker contacted the asset manager BlackRock last February with the intention of investing in the iShares Defense Industrials Active ETF, a fund focused on companies that can benefit from increased public spending on defense in a context of geopolitical tension. The inquiry, made on behalf of a high-profile client, was detected internally by the firm, according to the same sources.

This fund, with a volume of approximately 3.2 billion dollars, includes significant stakes in major Pentagon contractors such as RTX (formerly Raytheon Technologies), Lockheed Martin (the world's largest defense and security company), and Northrop Grumman (the third largest military defense contractor in the US), as well as the technology company Palantir, which specializes in data analysis.

After the publication of the information from the Financial Times, the Pentagon's top spokesman, Sean Parnell, vehemently denied the facts in a message on X, stating that “this accusation is totally false and fabricated” and that neither Hegseth nor any representative of his had contacted BlackRock. Both the asset manager and Morgan Stanley declined to comment.

Ultimately, however, the investment that the broker linked to Pete Hegseth would have attempted did not materialize because the fund was not yet available to Morgan Stanley clients. According to the Financial Times, it is unknown whether the stockbroker later found an alternative fund within the defense sector.

The episode may generate controversy because it is framed within a context in which the U.S. Department of Defense was preparing a large-scale military operation against Iran. Hegseth has been a prominent voice in favor of the offensive, and President Donald Trump has positioned him as the first in his national security circle when pushing for war.

The debate over defense investments comes at a time when Wall Street analysts are reviewing operations in financial and prediction markets ahead of decisions by the Trump administration.