Pentagon walks back claim Richard Marles didn’t meet with Pete Hegseth | Pete Hegseth

The Pentagon fell the suggestions that Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles did not meet his American counterpart, Pete Hegseth, adding to the confusion of his white house visit this week.

US officials initially denied that Marles had an official meeting with Hegseth during a last -minute trip to Washington, casting a doubt on the report of the federal government on the visit.

But while the ministers of the Albanian government was faced with questions Thursday morning, the pentagon-chief spokesman Sean Parnell told Guardian Australia that the pair had met.

“Secretary Hegseth welcomed the opportunity to meet in person with Deputy Prime Minister Marles for the third time this year,” said Parnell.

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“Their meeting at the White House on Tuesday was coordinated in advance.”

On Sunday, Marles announced that he would visit Washington and “would meet the defense secretary Pete Hegseth and other senior administration officials”. The trip has appeared in a hurry and meant that Marles would miss the start of the parliamentary session period in Canberra.

On Wednesday, he said he was happy to have met senior officials, including the vice-president, JD Vance, and the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. But in a carefully written statement, Marles said: “It was fantastic to see secretary Hegseth.”

Marles shared photos with Hegseth, Vance and Rubio on social networks, saying that he had taken the opportunity to “reaffirm the commitment of Australia” to the American alliance, and Hegseth checked the names.

A planned press conference did not go forward before leaving Washington to return to Canberra.

But Thursday, the Pentagon described the meeting where the photos were taken as “a meeting of chance”.

“We can confirm that there was no meeting,” an American defense official said on Thursday morning in a new news statement.

The Australian side said that Marles and Hegseth have had talks described as an individual opportunity, which would have covered the relationship between Australia and the United States, including the Aukus nuclear submarines agreement.

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, expressed any difference in statements between Washington and Canberra.

“The Deputy Prime Minister of Australia met the vice-president of the United States and secretary Rubio has a number of roles. Crucial roles,” he said.

“I did not have a report of Richard on the discussions he also had with the defense secretary, but by any objective measure going to the United States and meeting people from this seniority in the administration, when we have so many problems at stake … I find it quite strange to see part of this kick on the trip.”

The couple have already met in the United States and on the sidelines of Shangri-La dialogue in Singapore in May, when Hegseth said that Australia should considerably increase defense expenses to stimulate regional security and counter China’s efforts to increase influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Pentagon examination on Aukus caused anxiety in the federal government and the Defense Community. The examination, which is managed by a skeptic of the agreement, the Defense Under-Secretary Elbridge Colby, should be completed before the end of the year.

Australia has already sent $ 1.6 billion to the United States under the agreement.

Another complication for federal work is the Prime Minister’s efforts to ensure his first face -to -face meeting with US President Donald Trump. These talks could take place next month, when Albanese goes to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

A meeting previously planned at the G7 summit in Canada was canceled due to Trump’s early return to the White House.

Fantomial finance minister James Paterson said Marles was right to meet senior officials, including the deputy chief of the White House, Stephen Miller.

“It had a kind of withdrawal with secretary Pete Hegseth. This is the kind of relationship that we aspire to have with the United States, very senior access to Washington DC.

“What concerns me much more is that we now have 290 days for President Trump elected, and the Prime Minister has still not had this meeting with him.

“I think it’s a serious question of our most important bilateral security relationship.”

Albanese and Trump could meet a series of diplomatic commitments planned before Christmas, including talks and summits of quadruple leaders for the G20 and APEC.