Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S.-Iran ceasefire remains in place as American forces escort commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that the U.S.-Iran ceasefire remains in place, even as American forces pushed ahead with a new effort to guide commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz and the United Arab Emirates reported fresh Iranian missile and drone attacks.
The fragile truce is being tested around one of the world’s most important energy corridors, where shipping traffic has been largely stalled since Iran closed the strait during the war. Before the conflict, roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas moved through the narrow passage linking the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
Hegseth described Project Freedom, the Trump administration’s operation to escort commercial vessels through the waterway, as separate from the ceasefire. “The ceasefire is not over,” he told reporters, adding that President Trump would decide whether Iranian actions crossed the threshold of a violation.
The operation began with immediate confrontation. U.S. officials said Navy destroyers protecting two U.S.-flagged merchant vessels Monday faced Iranian missiles, attack drones and small boats. Trump said U.S. forces destroyed seven or eight Iranian small boats during the encounter. U.S. Central Command said the two merchant vessels successfully transited the strait.
Maersk said one of those ships, the Alliance Fairfax, a U.S.-flagged vessel operated by its Farrell Lines subsidiary, completed the passage Monday under U.S. military protection without incident and with its crew safe. The company said the ship had been stranded at sea since the U.S. and Israeli-led war against Iran began on Feb. 28.
Still, the broader reopening of the strait remains uncertain. More than 24 hours after the U.S. push began, traffic through Hormuz remained largely at a standstill, according to reporting based on ship-tracking data. U.S. officials have not provided a detailed public schedule for additional escorted passages or said how many commercial operators are prepared to move while the threat of attack remains high.
Iran, meanwhile, has insisted it remains in control of the waterway. The Revolutionary Guard warned Tuesday that ships must use the corridor announced by Tehran and said any diversion would be dangerous and draw a “firm response,” according to a statement carried by Iranian state television.
The tensions also widened beyond the strait. The UAE’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday its air defenses were dealing with missile and drone attacks originating from Iran, a second consecutive day of such strikes. UAE authorities said Iran fired 15 missiles Monday, causing a fire at the Fujairah industrial complex and wounding at least three workers. Arab interior ministers condemned the renewed attacks on civilian and economic sites.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei said Tehran had “no hostility toward Arab countries of the Gulf,” while accusing Gulf states of exposing themselves to risk by relying on U.S. security. He said Iran’s actions were defensive and aimed at U.S. military assets and bases used for operations against Iran.
Hegseth said U.S. forces would continue to protect commercial vessels and remained ready if the ceasefire collapsed. He called the Hormuz effort temporary and said Washington expected other countries to eventually help shoulder responsibility for keeping the waterway open.
For now, the immediate test is whether more ships follow the first U.S.-escorted vessels through the strait — and whether Iran treats those passages as a limited maritime operation or a reason to escalate again.
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