Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. mission to protect commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz would be temporary and other nations would soon have to take responsibility, emphasizing that the fragile ceasefire with Iran remained in place despite attacks on U.S. ships on Monday.
Hegseth said the U.S. had established a powerful “red, white and blue dome” over the strait as a “gift” to other nations to allow commercial ships to pass through. “Soon we will hand that responsibility back to you,” Hegseth said in a briefing Tuesday, alongside Gen. Dan Caine, Joint Chiefs chairman, regarding the U.S. efforts to help allies’ ships navigate the narrow strait.
Caine said more than 22,500 mariners on more than 1,550 commercial ships are waiting to transit the strait. Since the ceasefire was announced, Iran has fired at commercial vessels nine times, seized two and attacked U.S. forces more than 10 times — “all below the threshold of restarting major combat operations, at this point,” he added.
Caine and Hegseth said the fast boats Iran used to try to attack the vessels were only using small arms, rifles or machine guns, but that Iran also fired small coastal cruise missiles at the ships, which did not hit the ships.
Iranian officials on Tuesday accused the United States of violating the ceasefire and warned of it becoming bogged down in the war, now in its third month. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said events in the strait “make clear that there’s no military solution to a political crisis,” adding that the U.S. should be “wary of being dragged back into quagmire.”
“Project Freedom is Project Deadlock,” he said, referring to President Donald Trump’s name for the U.S. mission to guide ships through the strait.
Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said a “new equation” in the strait is “in the process of being solidified,” in a post on X on Tuesday. “We know full well that the continuation of the status quo is intolerable for America; while we have not even begun yet,” he added.
On Monday, the U.S. said two of its destroyers, closely followed by two merchant vessels, came under attack during successful transits of the strait, which has remained effectively blocked to maritime traffic during the war.
Iran fired cruise missiles and drones at the U.S. naval and commercial vessels, and sent fast boats after commercial ships, said Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command. Elsewhere in the region, the United Arab Emirates reported an Iranian assault on an energy hub that caused a fire while Oman’s state media reported an attack in the country but did not identify a perpetrator.
South Korea said it was also investigating the cause of a fire in a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, after Trump said Iran was to blame.
Cooper insisted the U.S. had the upper hand and sought to differentiate U.S. actions from those of Iran. “The distinction from my perspective is crystal clear,” he said. “My operational assessment overall is that the U.S. military has the clear advantage.”
Trump also sought to assert U.S. military dominance following Monday’s attacks, saying “one way or the other, we win,” in comments to conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. “We either make the right deal, or we win very easily from the military standpoint. We’ve already won that,” he said. The president also said the U.S. had “knocked out” Iran’s leadership teams since the war began. “They talk a lot differently when they’re talking to me than they talk when they’re talking to the media,” he said.
No new attacks were reported early Tuesday as Araghchi traveled to China for diplomatic talks and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned Monday’s attacks. “It is absolutely essential that the ceasefire be upheld and respected, to allow necessary diplomatic space for dialogue leading to enduring peace and stability in the region,” he said in a post on X.
U.S. efforts to help commercial ships transit the strait came after Trump said “Project Freedom” would begin Monday, while discussions to end the war with Iran remained underway. The critical waterway carried about 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas supplies before the war began.
The president framed the mission as a humanitarian exercise, saying the U.S. had received requests for help from what he called “victims of circumstance” trapped in the area. “If, in any way, this Humanitarian process is interfered with, that interference will, unfortunately, have to be dealt with forcefully,” he said in a social media post.
Iran has repeatedly warned against U.S. intervention in the Strait of Hormuz, and negotiations to open the narrow choke point have formed a central plank of discussions between the U.S. and Iran since they agreed to a ceasefire on April 7, which largely halted the fighting. Despite exchanging proposals and holding face-to-face talks, the two sides still face key sticking points that threaten both the ceasefire and the prospect of a more lasting peace.
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