Despite the explosion of military action around the Strait of Hormuz, the ceasefire between the United States and Iran remains in place, Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters.
Hegseth said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump will decide when the armistice ends, suggesting Washington may condone some Iranian attacks in the process of reopening the port of Hormuz before resuming hostilities.
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The defense secretary stressed that Washington’s campaign to pry open strategic waterways, dubbed “Project Freedom,” is not part of a broader U.S.-Israel offensive against Iran, codenamed “Epic Fury.”
“The ceasefire is not over. At the end of the day, this is a separate and distinct project and we initially expected there to be some confusion, and that’s what happened,” Hegseth told reporters.
“We said we would continue to defend ourselves aggressively, and we absolutely do. Iran knows that, and ultimately it will be up to the president to decide whether this escalates into a ceasefire violation.”
Monday saw the highest level of hostilities of the war since the armistice took effect on April 8.
Iran announced that it had opened fire on a U.S. Navy ship. The United States announced that it had shot down seven small Iranian warships. Tehran then resumed launching drones and missiles against the United Arab Emirates. A South Korean ship near Hormuz was also attacked in what appeared to be an Iranian attack.
There were also casualties. Three people were injured in an Iranian attack on the UAE’s Fujairah oil industrial zone, and Tehran said five civilians were killed in a US attack on a passenger ship in the Gulf.
More than 24 hours after the United States began breaking through Iran’s blockade in Hormuz, traffic in the strait remains largely halted, according to ship tracking data.
Iran emphasizes “new equation”
Hegseth said Tuesday that the United States is securing the waterway and is in contact with ships, businesses and insurance companies to facilitate vessel passage.
“We have installed a powerful red, white and blue dome over the Strait,” the Pentagon chief said.
“American destroyers are stationed there, supported by hundreds of fighter jets, helicopters, drones, and reconnaissance aircraft, providing 24/7 surveillance of peaceful merchant vessels.”
Hegseth said that Iranian ships will not be allowed to pass as the US protects shipping lanes in the strait, stressing that the US naval siege of Iranian ports continues.
But U.S. officials did not provide details about how many ships the U.S. would escort or whether they had agreed to allow ships to pass while the threat of attack remains high.
When asked for more information, the head of the U.S. military, General Dan Cain, referred the matter to the U.S. military’s Central Command, which is based in the Middle East.
“I’ll leave it up to CENTCOM to decide how many ships they’re going through, because they’re the closest thing to talking to commercial shippers and I don’t want to get in front of them,” Cain said.
The Iranian government has dismissed the US operation and stressed that the waterway remains under US control.
Before the war, about 20% of the world’s oil and natural gas flowed through the Strait of Hormuz.
Although parts of the waterway pass through the territorial waters of Iran and Oman, the Hormuz route was free and treated as an international waterway.
But Iran now claims the strait, which it successfully blockaded shortly after the U.S. and Israeli attacks on February 28. Most of the international community emphasizes the need to maintain free trade through Hormuz.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Berger Ghalibaf said on Tuesday that the Iranian government is solidifying a “new equation” in Hormuz.
“The security of shipping and energy transport is being endangered by the United States and its allies through ceasefire violations and the imposition of blockades. Of course, their evil will weaken,” Ghalibaf wrote to X.
“We are fully aware that the status quo is intolerable for the United States, but we haven’t even started yet.”
crude oil price
Oil prices have skyrocketed since the war began. In the United States, rising gasoline prices for American consumers are accelerating inflation, and the Trump administration’s Republican Party is taking political responsibility for this in the run-up to the presidential election.
Midterm elections in November.
The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States rose to $4.48 ($1.18 per liter) on Tuesday, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). Before the war, it was less than $3 ($0.79 per liter).
President Trump and his aides have argued that prices will fall rapidly once the war ends.
Global oil prices fell slightly on Tuesday after surging the previous day.
Iran’s blockade of Hormuz has left 1,550 ships stuck in Hormuz, according to U.S. officials, but Hegseth insisted on Tuesday that Iran does not control the strait.
He said the United States succeeded in securing the passage of two U.S.-flagged commercial vessels along with a naval destroyer on Monday.
“We know that Iran is embarrassed by the fact that our blockade remains in place and ships can sail, and the world is going to help ships sail,” Hegseth said.
He added that the US operation in Hormuz would be “temporary” and would then be taken over by other countries without specifying it.
So far, U.S. allies have rejected calls to join military efforts to reopen the waterway.
“While we are stabilizing the situation so that trade can resume, we expect the world to take action at the appropriate time and we will soon hand over responsibility to you,” Hegseth told reporters.
