WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration's approach to the Iran war over the past 24 hours has pinballed from declarations that a tenuous ceasefire was holding and military operations were over to new threats of bombing the Islamic Republic.
Tuesday started with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth explaining how the U.S. military was protecting stranded ships so they could traverse the Strait of Hormuz. He insisted it was a defensive operation and the truce
was still in place even though Iran had launched missiles and drones at U.S. forces, which sank Tehran’s small attack boats.
That afternoon, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters at the White House that the military operation was “concluded” and that the U.S. achieved its objectives. But in almost the same breath, he said President Donald Trump was still seeking a “path of peace” that required Iran to agree to a deal to reopen the vital oil shipping corridor.
By Tuesday evening, Trump announced that the effort to protect ships was paused to see if an agreement could be reached. Then on Wednesday morning, he again warned that bombing would resume if Tehran didn't agree to U.S. terms.
The Trump administration’s shifting and often contradictory messaging throughout the Iran war has produced ever more confusion this week as the president and his aides presented a dizzying narrative over the U.S. strategy to unblock the Strait of Hormuz and wrap up the war that drastically changed over the course of mere hours.
Administration officials have been trying to walk a fine line between maintaining the ceasefire and reopening the strait, where 20% of the world’s oil normally flows. The economic fallout is growing as fuel prices rise, with Republicans facing increasing pressure to find solutions to higher costs ahead of the midterm congressional elections.
The Trump administration has struggled with its messaging because the war wasn't well planned, said Elizabeth Dent, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
“Because it happened very quickly, it wasn’t sold to the American public in a way that I think was palatable,” said Dent, a former official in the State Department and Pentagon. “Now I think Trump is sort of doing everything he can to prevent a return of hostilities because he saw how unpopular the war was.”
Throughout the conflict, the president has shifted his priorities and his perspectives on victory. He's offered a murky definition of a ceasefire. And he's provided his own interpretation of a law that requires congressional approval for military operations after 60 days.
The confusion is fueled in part by Trump’s tendency to make off-the-cuff statements that essentially make policy, Dent said. Aides like Rubio and Hegseth must then explain Trump's statements.
The whirlwind 24 hours of decision-making by the Trump administration also reflects a realization that any alternative to an agreement “is going to range from unpalatable to outright ugly” at a moment of great political importance for the Republican president, said Ali Vaez, Iran director at the International Crisis Group.
“This is not an administration that operates based on a policy process. It operates based on impulse. And the president seems now both tired of this war and reluctant to continue investing his political capital into it,” Vaez said.
The last couple of days have been emblematic of how the Trump administration's statements can seem out of sync and hard to follow.
The president said Sunday that U.S. forces would safely guide hundreds of stranded commercial vessels out of the strait, which Iran has effectively closed by firing at ships off its coast.
On Tuesday, Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, said two American-flagged freighters transited the waterway to lead the effort, but Iran fired at U.S. ships and the military sank six Iranian small attack boats.
When asked about the fire from both sides, Hegseth said, “No, the ceasefire is not over.” Caine also said Iranian attacks did not reach the level of “restarting major combat operations.”
Rubio later insisted Trump's preference was diplomacy.
“Operation Epic Fury is concluded. We achieved the objectives of that operation,” he said, referring to the code name for the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran. “What the president would prefer is a deal.”
A deal seemed closer at hand when Trump said Tuesday night on social media that he was halting the operation in the strait to see what would happen with negotiations. But on Wednesday morning, Trump threatened Iran once again.
“If they don’t agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before,” he wrote on Truth Social.
The U.S. military said Wednesday that it shot at and disabled an Iranian oil tanker as it tried to breach the blockade of Iran’s shipping.
Another confusing element is the administration's efforts to persuade allies to deploy warships to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump has been lashing out at countries unwilling to do more, telling them to “go get your own oil” and saying it was not America’s job to secure the strait. But administration officials have begun actively soliciting help while toning down their language.
Rubio said the issue is not a lack of interest, but that many are unable to provide the necessary resources.
“A lot of countries would love to do something about it. But they don’t have a navy, right? Or they can’t get there in time,” he said.
After Trump's abrupt suspension of the initiative, two U.S. officials said the administration was still deciding whether, and how, to proceed with planning, following the State Department’s formal request for support from countries last week.
The officials, who spoke on Wednesday on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said Trump’s announcement had not been expected and that they had not been offered detailed guidance on whether to withdraw the requests for support.
U.S. allies like Britain and France have rejected on-again, off-again suggestions from Trump that they become militarily involved, but they have led the formation of a separate international maritime coalition to secure the strait — but only once the threat to shipping ends.
The issue only has been more complicated by Trump’s trip to Beijing next week.
“Going to China while the strait remains closed is humiliating for President Trump and puts China in a position of strength vis-a-vis the United States, because President Trump would have to, as he has done recently, ask for China’s help to resolve a problem that didn’t exist before he launched a war,” Vaez said.
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Amiri reported from New York.
