A broker for U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attempted to make a big investment in major defense companies in the weeks leading up to the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing three people familiar with the matter.

Hegseth’s broker at Morgan Stanley contacted BlackRock in February about making a multimillion-dollar investment in the asset manager’s Defense Industrials Active ETF, shortly before the U.S. launched military action against Tehran, the report added.

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(Reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; Editing by Chris Reese)