"Donald Trump claimed there were 'lots of defections' in the Iranian leadership - but did not elaborate about who or when - as he held a press briefing with PM Sanae Takaichi at the White House on Thursday. "We are seeing the defections at all levels as they're starting to sense what's going on with the regime," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. "It doesn't get reported here in the US very well, but we are trouncing them from the air and the regime will probably collapse within itself." Trump added: "You have a lot of military defections in Iran... i don't hate, I don't blame them." The US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28. Tehran responded with strikes on Israel and US assets in the region. Trump has repeatedly slammed NATO allies for failing to help him secure the Strait of Hormuz. He also said he'd told Benjamin Netanyahu not to attack more gas fields in Iran after the South Pars strike. "I told him don't do that and he said we'll do that we didn't discuss you know we do uh we're independent. We get along great. It's coordinated. But on occasion, he'll do something, and if I don't like it — and so we're not doing that anymore," he said. Iran retaliated with an attack on a major liquefied natural gas export facility in Qatar, with global oil and natural gas prices surging. "