Topline

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Iran ceasefire is “not over” and the U.S. is “not looking for a fight,” downplaying Monday’s crossfire, the first since a ceasefire was called in early April, as Iran accused the U.S. of violating the truce.

Hegseth told reporters in a press conference Tuesday, “we’re not looking for a fight” and Gen. Dan Caine said “today is quieter.”

The U.S. military sank six Iranian military speedboats and shot down cruise missiles and drones targeting ships the U.S. Navy was escorting through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, Hegseth said.

Caine and Hegseth said the U.S. would continue its “Project Freedom” operation of helping guide commercial ships tied to countries that aren’t involved in the Iran war out of the strait, where many have been trapped since Iran shut down traffic at the start of the conflict.

Hegseth said the mission is “separate and distinct” from broader U.S. military operations in Iran, adding, “we expected there would be some, some churn at the beginning, which happened.”

Iran has reacted negatively to the U.S.’s attempts to assert control over the strait, however, with the speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, writing on X Tuesday, “the security of shipping and energy transit [in the Strait of Hormuz] has been jeopardized by the United States and its allies through the violation of the ceasefire and the imposition of a blockade . . . we know full well that the continuation of the status quo is intolerable for America; while we have not even begun yet.”