Donald Trump on Monday appeared to set up Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to take the blame should the president characterize the Iran war as a failure.

During a roundtable on crime prevention in Memphis, the president recounted how he made the decision to launch the strikes on Iran late last month.

“I said, ‘let’s talk.’ We got a problem in the Middle East. We have a country known as Iran that , for 47 years, been just a purveyor of terror, and they’re very close to a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.

The president then explained what he viewed were the options.

“We can keep going and get that 50,000 up to 55 and 60, there’s no end,” Trump said, referring to the military’s goal to recruit 60,000 soldiers, “or we can take a stop and make a little journey into the Middle East and eliminate a big problem.”

“And I think, Pete, you were the first one to speak up,” Trump said. “And you said, ‘let’s do it.’ Because you cannot let them have a nuclear weapon.”

Trump claimed Iran came to him Sunday night asking to negotiate an end to the war, which Tehran denied earlier Monday.

The president’s remark toward Hegseth was laying the groundwork to blame the defense secretary for the unpopular Iran war, according to Trump critics and other political observers.

“Hegseth about to give his next briefing from under the bus,” tweeted  “Pod Save America” co-host and former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau.

David Stockman, who has nearly 49,000 followers on X, shared a similar sentiment.

“Would you like a Greyhound bus or an 18-wheeler coming your way, Pete?!” he tweeted.

Added Matt Ford, host of “The Good Trouble”: “Well someone is getting thrown under the bus! Remember MAGA Trump says he always hires the best,” he tweeted.

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