US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth joins Rep. Zach Nunn at Iowa State Fair
U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posed for photos at a Nunn campaign event held at JR’s Southpork Ranch at the Iowa State Fair Aug. 17, 2026. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
by Robin Opsahl, Iowa Capital Dispatch
August 17, 2026
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Iowa State Fairgoers Monday he honored the Iowa soldiers killed in Kuwait, while saying the U.S.-Iran conflict was necessary to keep Americans safe.
The defense secretary also spoke on the anti-DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) policies and other changes made at the U.S. Department of Defense, renamed the “Department of War” since President Donald Trump took office for a second term. He said “at the Department of War, we do training, not tr***ies,” using a slur to refer to transgender people.
“It is a day and night difference,” Hegseth said. “Training, lethality, accountability, discipline, readiness — the bedrock of what it means to be an American warrior — is the only focus of our department. Colorblind, gender-neutral, merit-based. That’s it.”
Hegseth joined Republican U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn at the JR’s Southpork Ranch at the Iowa State Fair for “Operation Top Nunn: Salute to the Troops,” an annual campaign fundraiser and event benefiting veterans support organizations. The event — with Hegseth as a special guest — was originally scheduled for March, but was postponed.
The March plans were canceled shortly after the deaths of two Iowa soldiers in an Iranian strike on a Kuwait facility on March 1. The Iowa soldiers were identified as Major Jeffrey O’Brien, a 45-year-old from Waukee, and Sgt. Declan J. Coady, a 20-year-old from West Des Moines. These two Iowa soldiers, alongside the four others who died in the strike, were all assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command, based in Des Moines.
Hegseth said he and Trump had been at the Dover Air Force Base for either all or “near all” of the dignified transfers of U.S. soldiers killed in the U.S.-Iran conflict, which began Feb. 28, “because I want to see and understand firsthand the cost, the sacrifice when we send our men and women into harm’s way.” He spoke on the “cost” of military action, but also explained why the United States took this action, bringing up concerns about nuclear capabilities.
“There is a cost to doing very difficult things, to going out and defending your country, and ensuring radical Islamist crazies don’t get a nuclear weapon,” Hegseth said. “I’m not willing to look my kids in the eye and say, ‘We had a chance to do something about it, but we didn’t,’ when they were building a conventional arsenal of missiles and drones so large — they’re trying to use the North Korean approach effectively … Iran wanted to do the same thing.”
The deaths of O’Brien and Coady came just months after two Iowa National Guard members, Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard of Marshalltown and Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar of Des Moines, were killed in Palmyra, Syria, during a Dec. 13, 2025 attack by a lone gunman associated with ISIS.
Nunn brought up the families of Howard and Torres-Tovar to speak at the event and he asked for Iowans to keep military members and families in their thoughts and prayers.
“That’s what the days like this are about: recognizing how we can help those who survive with us and honor those who’ve given the ultimate sacrifice,” Nunn said.
Hegseth called for Iowans to support reelecting Nunn to the U.S. House as he faces Democratic state Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott in the 2026 election. He said Nunn was a needed ally for the administration and a trusted voice advocating for U.S. military needs as a veteran.
“President Trump needs the type of leaders who understand why a $1.5 trillion dollar budget, a one-time generational investment, is what is necessary to ensure that my kids and your kids, that your grandkids and my grandkids, live in a free country, defended by the most powerful military in the world,” Hegseth said.
Trone Garriott said in a statement: “It’s disgraceful that Zach Nunn and Pete Hegseth are partying together at a campaign stop in Iowa while our service members are under threat and facing poor conditions overseas. Our leaders should be focused on ending this war and keeping Americans deployed overseas safe, not fundraising for Zach Nunn’s campaign.”
Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com.
