LIVE: Pete Hegseth insists Iran ceasefire is ‘not over’

by Phillip Nieto, US Political Reporter

Pete Hegseth says the fragile ceasefire with Iran is still holding, even as he admits that Iranian forces have attacked US troops nearly a dozen times since the pause in hostilities.

He told a Pentagon briefing: ‘The US aims to protect shipping from Iranian aggression. The US won’t need to enter Iranian airspace or waters as part of opening the Strait of Hormuz. We’re not looking for a fight. They said they control the strait, they do not.’

His remarks come after Iran’s chief negotiator warned Tehran has ‘not even started’ in the battle to control the Strait of Hormuz hours after attacks were traded in the waterway.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine noted earlier in the briefing that Iran has attacked ‘attacked US forces more than 10 times’ since the ceasefire began last month.

Iran launched devastating new strikes in the Middle East on Monday after Donald Trump announced the US navy would reopen the Strait of Hormuz with the launch of ‘Project Freedom.’

Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war as Iran and the US remain in a standoff over the Strait of Hormuz.

• Iran’s chief negotiator in talks with the United States, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, warned that his country had ‘not even started’ and that US actions in the Strait of Hormuz had put shipping at risk
• Stocks sank across Asian markets as a fresh spike in Middle East tensions fanned fears over the fragile US-Iran ceasefire, and oil prices fell back slightly after gains on Monday
• Denmark’s freight giant Maersk said one of its ships had sailed through the Strait of Hormuz under US escort, adding the transit was completed ‘without incident’
• India condemned a drone strike on an energy facility in the United Arab Emirates in which three Indians were injured, urging uninterrupted access to the Strait of Hormuz
• South Korea said it would ‘review its position’ on joining US operations in the Strait of Hormuz after Donald Trump urged Seoul to take part following an apparent Iranian attack on one of its ships
• UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called for de-escalation in the Middle East after the United Arab Emirates reported attacks for the first time since a truce was declared nearly a month ago
• Iran had ‘no pre-planned programme’ to attack oil facilities in the United Arab Emirates, Iranian state TV quoted a military official as saying, after the UAE blamed the Islamic republic for a drone strike at an energy installation in Fujairah
• The United Arab Emirates’s education ministry ordered all schools to return to remote teaching for the remainder of the week following fresh attacks on the country by Iran
• A top US admiral said his country’s forces had destroyed six Iranian boats and shot down missiles and drones fired at US Navy and commercial vessels by Tehran’s military, though Tehran denied any boats had been sunk
• President Donald Trump played down tensions after US warships entered the Strait of Hormuz, saying Iran had ‘taken some shots’ but caused no harm apart from damage to a South Korean vessel

Pete Hegseth dismissed a suggestion Donald Trump has ‘capitulated’ on his demand for Iran’s unconditional surrender.

A reporter questioned the Defense Secretary after reading one of the President’s social media posts earlier in the conflict in which Trump asked Iranians to rise up and topple the regime.

Hegseth replied: ‘The president hasn’t capitulated on anything. He holds the cards, we maintain the upper hand, and Project Freedom only strengthens that hand.’

Asked by another journalist whether the US and Israel would be ‘roped back in’ to further conflict with Iran, Hegseth insisted Trump was still ‘directing’ the conflict.

General Dan Caine was asked whether he had concerns Iran was training dolphins to carry explosives into the Strait of Hormuz following reports in the American media.

The Wall Street Journal has cited intelligence that Iran was considering deploying mine-carrying dolphins to the strait, though analysts are sceptical the move would work.

General Caine told reporters: ‘I haven’t heard the Dolphin thing. Is that like sharks with laser beams?’

‘Their command and control structure remains very fractured and I think they’re struggling to maintain control.’

Pete Hegseth then added: ‘I can’t confirm or deny whether we have kamikaze dolphins. But I can confirm they don’t.’

Pete Hegseth has confirmed the US-Iran ceasefire is ‘not over’ following the exchange of attacks in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday.

‘Right now, the ceasefire holds,’ Hegseth told a Pentagon briefing.

But he warned Iran to remain ‘prudent’ in keeping its actions below the threshold for restarting conflict.

Asked whether Donald Trump would seek approval from Congress for any future military operations, Hegseth said any resumption in the war ‘would be the president’s decision’.

‘The president retains the opportunity and more capabilities than we had at the start of this to restart major combat operations if necessary,’ he said.

General Dan Caine, the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Pentagon Iran has attacked the US on more than 10 occasions since the ceasefire was announced.

General Caine says Iran has ‘repeatedly threatened and attacked commercial shipping’ and is ‘weaponising the global supply chain’ in an attempt to ‘hold the entire global economy hostage’.

He said Iran has fired at commercial vessels nine times, seized two container ships and launched attacks on US forces 10 times since the ceasefire was imposed on April 8.

General Caine adds the actions are below the threshold to restart combat operations. Asked what the threshold is, Caine says it is ‘above his pay grade’.

Pete Hegseth says the US remains ‘locked and loaded’ to protect its ships and soldiers amid a standoff in the Strait of Hormuz.

Hegseth says the US military is seeking ‘to break Iran’s illegal stranglehold’ over the strait.

He told the Pentagon briefing:

US aims to protect shipping from Iranian aggression. The US won’t need to enter Iranian airspace or waters as part of opening the Strait of Hormuz. We’re not looking for a fight. They said they control the strait, they do not.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said an ‘ironclad blockade’ remains in full effect in Iran.

Speaking at a Pentagon press briefing, Hegseth said Project Freedom, which he described as a temporary mission, was launched for humanitarian reasons as well as strategic.

‘We’re not looking for a fight. But Iran also cannot be allowed to block innocent countries and their goods from an international waterway,” Hegseth told reporters.

‘If you attack American troops or innocent commercial shipping, you will face overwhelming and devastating American firepower’.

Israel is co-ordinating potential new strikes on Iran with the US amid escalating tensions over the Strait of Hormuz, CNN is reporting.

According to the report, any new strikes would focus on energy infrastructure and target senior Iranian officials.

A source told CNN: ‘The intention would be to carry out a short campaign aimed at pressuring Iran into further concessions in negotiations.’

However, any decision to take strike action would rest with Donald Trump who is said to have been increasingly frustrated at the deadlock in negotiations.

The United Arab Emirates has restricted flights to a handful of approved routes until May 11 in response to Iran’s latest missile attack.

Emergency security protocols have been activated, according to Notices to Air Men (NOTAMs) published by its General Civil Aviation Authority.

The restrictions came two days after the UAE had lifted all precautionary airspace measures and said its airspace was clear.

Yesterday the UAE said its air defences were thwarting Iranian missiles and drones, forcing multiple flights to divert to Oman’s Muscat and circle over Saudi Arabia.

The USS George HW Bush has been deployed to support Donald Trump’s Project Freedom.

The US aircraft carrier has more than 60 aircraft on board and is currently stationed in the Arabian Sea to help enforce a naval blockade on Iran.

by Mark Almond for the Daily Mail

Does President Trump stand any real chance of re-opening the Strait of Hormuz, as he has promised to do? Is it, as some have claimed, an exercise doomed to fail?

On Sunday, throwing down yet another gauntlet to Iran, Trump announced that the US navy, backed by 100 aircraft, would free the 2,000 ships and 20,000 crew trapped in the Persian Gulf.

The grandly named ‘Operation Freedom’, due to have started yesterday morning, was supposed to end Iran’s stranglehold on the world’s energy and fertiliser supplies.

So far, we are yet to see much sign of it.

Perhaps that’s no surprise. The risk to Washington is all too obvious: a direct Iranian hit on an American vessel – let alone a sinking – could be enough to inflame opinion at home and force the US navy into a humiliating retreat.

But that’s not to say the enterprise is completely hopeless, not least because, for all the triumphant rhetoric of the mullahs, Iran and its people are suffering grievously.