The US defence secretary stated that the US president has a different “perspective” on foreign policy to that of previous presidents.

“Mission creep” refers to the gradual expansion of a foreign policy objective to encompass broader aims, often with unintended consequences.

Mr Hegseth said: “I understand those concerns, because I’ve heard from a lot of people who went through, I went through 20 years of those wars myself, worried about getting dragged in, worried about mission creep, worried about nation-building or or democracy expansion.

“That’s never the perspective the president has pursued on this, just because previous presidents and previous secretaries have decided to just pour more resources and more people in towards some unguided end state, doesn’t mean that’s the way the world needs to look today.

“In fact, the American people voted for a different approach. But what the president also stated from the beginning is Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon.

“And it’s one thing to say it. It’s easy to say, anybody can say that – Barack Obama said that. But to do something about it takes courage and resolve.”