President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Gen. James Mattis, a former Centcom commander, as his new Secretary of Defense, a move which had been spoken of a few times in the past few weeks, as the new president-elect continues to nail down his cabinet choices.

Gen. Mattis had a history of controversial remarks, and in 2013 decclared that he has a "rather dim view of Iranians," insisting that the US should not engage in diplomacy with them and that the goal of American policy was to "bring Iran to its knees."

Mattis also has garnered some opposition from Israeli officials, as in 2013 he warned that the Israeli occupation and settlement expansion was "unsustainable," and that he thought it incompatible with Israel's insistence of remaining a Jewish and democratic state, saying it would either end the Jewish majority or turn Israel into an apartheid state.