US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday insisted that the US-Iran truce “is not over” despite ongoing exchanges of fire and maritime confrontations.
Addressing a Pentagon briefing on Tuesday, Hegseth said the ceasefire was still intact and described early instability as expected.
“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,” CNN quoted Hegseth as saying.
Hegseth said US operations to escort commercial vessels through the strait are separate from wider military activity.
“To be clear, this operation is separate and distinct from Operation Epic Fury,” he said.
“Project Freedom is defensive in nature, focused in scope and temporary in duration, with one mission: Protecting innocent commercial shipping from Iranian aggression.”
He said two US commercial vessels have successfully passed through the strait under escort, while six ships attempting to violate restrictions on Iranian ports were turned back.
'No congressional approval required'
Addressing legal authority, Hegseth said the Trump administration does not believe it needs fresh congressional approval to continue operations while the ceasefire holds.
He argued that under the War Powers framework, the countdown is effectively paused during a ceasefire and would only resume if hostilities restart.
“The president retains the opportunity and the capabilities… to restart major combat operations if necessary,” he said, adding that the US military remains “locked, loaded and ready to go” should diplomacy fail.
'Iran attacked US forces more than 10 times since ceasefire'
In the same briefing, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine said Iran has attacked US forces more than 10 times since the ceasefire went into effect, but that is “below the threshold” for the US to restart combat operations.
“Since the ceasefire was announced, Iran has fired at commercial vessels nine times and seized two container ships, and they’ve attacked US forces more than 10 times, all below the threshold of restarting major combat operations at this point,” CNN quoted Caine as saying.
“The threshold of restarting is a political decision above my pay grade. What I’ll say is it’s low harassing fire right now. It feels like Iran is grasping at straws,” Caine added.
The ceasefire remains under strain after US Central Command commander Brad Cooper told reporters on Monday that the US “blew up” six Iranian small boats in the Strait of Hormuz.
Cooper said he would not “go into details of whether the ceasefire is over or not,” adding that the US was acting “specifically with the president’s direction.”
