Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S.-Iran ceasefire remains in effect despite new fighting around ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that a fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire remains in effect despite an exchange of fire in the Strait of Hormuz, where U.S. forces are escorting commercial vessels through a critical international waterway.
“The ceasefire is not over,” Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon, one day after Iranian vessels fired on U.S. ships involved in the escort mission and the U.S. sank several small Iranian boats.
The confrontation underscored the risks around the Trump administration’s “Project Freedom,” an effort to move commercial ships out of the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz. Hegseth described the mission as separate from the broader conflict with Iran and said the Pentagon had anticipated trouble as the operation began.
“Ultimately, this is a separate, distinct project,” Hegseth said, adding that U.S. officials expected “some churn at the beginning.” He said American forces had warned they would defend the vessels they were escorting “aggressively.”
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Iran’s actions since the ceasefire was announced in early April have included nine attacks on commercial vessels, the seizure of two container ships and more than 10 attacks on U.S. forces. Caine said those incidents remained “below the threshold of restarting major combat operations.”
Hegseth also called the escort effort a “temporary solution,” saying Iran should not be allowed to block countries and goods from an international waterway. The Strait of Hormuz normally carries about 20% of the world’s oil, making any sustained disruption a concern well beyond the immediate military confrontation.
U.S. Central Command said Monday that two U.S.-flagged commercial vessels moved through the strait as part of Project Freedom. It also said U.S. forces destroyed six Iranian boats that attempted to interfere with commercial vessels, while President Donald Trump later put the number at seven. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency rejected the U.S. account, saying none of its fast boats had been destroyed.
Caine said the U.S. mission includes about 15,000 American service members, guided missile destroyers and other warships, as well as attack and unmanned aircraft. Hegseth distinguished Project Freedom from “Operation Epic Fury,” the broader U.S. military effort connected to the conflict with Iran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Monday’s violence showed “there’s no military solution” to the war and warned the U.S. and regional partners against being pulled deeper into the conflict. He also said talks between the U.S. and Iran were making progress, even as Trump said over the weekend that Iran’s latest peace proposal likely would not be acceptable.
The immediate question is whether further attacks in or near the strait will remain below the U.S. threshold for renewed major combat operations, or whether the escort mission will become the flashpoint that breaks the ceasefire Hegseth said is still holding.
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