Both the U.S. and Iran traded fire Monday, but that does not mean the ceasefire is over.
That’s according to War Secretary Pete Hegseth, who briefed reporters Tuesday, The Hill reported.
“No, the ceasefire is not over. Ultimately, this is a separate and distinct project, and we expected there would be some, some churn at the beginning, which happened, and we said we would defend and defend aggressively, and we absolutely have,” Hegseth said at the Pentagon.
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President Donald Trump announced Sunday the U.S. military would help guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz. This ultimately led to a back-and-forth escalation on Monday between the two sides as Project Freedom was enforced.
The U.S. military destroyed six Iranian boats Monday after Iran opened fire on U.S. warships, Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of U.S. Central Command (Centcom), said.
Gen. Dan Caine, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the briefing that restarting kinetic action against Iran is a “political decision above my pay grade.” He described Iran’s actions as “low harassing fire.”
“It feels like Iran is grasping at straws to try to do something across the southern flank. … Their command and control structure remains very fractured, and I think they’re struggling to maintain control down Echelon at the edge, but … it’s still pretty low-level kinetics at this point,” Caine said Tuesday.
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Hegseth added hundreds of ships are “lining up” to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Six ships tried to breach the U.S. naval blockade and were turned around, he continued.
“Centcom, along with partner nations, is in active communication with hundreds of ships, shipping companies and insurers. All of these ships from all around the world want to get out of the Iranian trap that they have been stuck inside,” he said.
So far, two U.S. commercial vessels, along with U.S. Navy destroyers, have passed through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Hegseth.
“We know the Iranians are embarrassed by this fact. They said they control the strait. They do not,” he said.
Currently, there are about 22,500 mariners embarked on more than 1,550 commercial vessels that are “trapped” in the Arabian Gulf and unable to go through, Caine said.
