---
title: A broker for Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, attempted to make a big investment in major defence companies in the weeks leading up to the US-Israeli attack on Ira
description: "According to three people familiar with the matter.\n\nHegseth’s broker at Morgan Stanley contacted BlackRock in February about making a multimillion-dollar investment in the asset manager’s Defense Industrials Active ETF, the people said, shortly before the US launched military action against Tehran.\n\nThe inquiry on behalf of the high-profile potential client was flagged internally at BlackRock, according to the people familiar with the matter.\n\nNote however that if this is true, he would still have lost some money (-12.7% as shown on the chart below).\n\nSource: FT, Bloomberg, RBC"
---

[Syz The Moment](https://blog.syzgroup.com/syz-the-moment)

# [A broker for Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, attempted to make a big investment in major defence companies in the weeks leading up to the US-Israeli attack on Ira](https://blog.syzgroup.com/syz-the-moment/a-broker-for-pete-hegseth-the-us-defence-secretary-attempted-to-make-a-big-investment-in-major-defence-companies-in-the-weeks-leading-up-to-the-us-1774968252361)

 Written by [Charles-Henry Monchau, CFA, CMT, CAIA](https://blog.syzgroup.com/syz-the-moment/author/charles-henry-monchau) | Mar 31, 2026, 2:45:03 PM

[View full post](https://blog.syzgroup.com/syz-the-moment/a-broker-for-pete-hegseth-the-us-defence-secretary-attempted-to-make-a-big-investment-in-major-defence-companies-in-the-weeks-leading-up-to-the-us-1774968252361)

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