This private message suggests that the White House wanted to reduce the risk of a potential escalation. But despite the warning, the Iranians launched a series of attacks on US Navy ships, commercial vessels and the United Arab Emirates.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine today played down the significance of the Iranian attacks and asserted that the ceasefire remains in effect. Still, some US and Israeli officials believe President Trump could order the war to resume later this week if the diplomatic standoff continues.
The “Project Freedom” warning came around the same time Trump announced the operation on the Truth Social network that evening. Hegseth said today that the US is “communicating with the Iranians both publicly and covertly to enable this defensive operation to be carried out on behalf of the entire world”.
During the first day of the operation yesterday, Iran carried out several attacks on US Navy ships passing through the strait, as well as other commercial vessels in the region and targets in the United Arab Emirates.
General Caine claimed at a press conference on Tuesday that the Iranian attacks were “below the threshold for restarting major combat operations”. “Currently the ceasefire is in effect,” Hegseth said, adding that the US expected there to be “some turmoil” at the start of the operation in Hormuz.
“The Revolutionary Guards sometimes make moves that are outside the bounds of what the Iranian negotiators might want. Their job is to rein them in and create the conditions for a deal,” Hegseth said. Both Hegseth and Caine said the US military is ready to quickly resume war if Trump orders it.
The operation itself did not significantly increase the flow of oil or cargo through the strait in the first 24 hours. The command staff of the US Army announced that yesterday two ships under the US flag passed through the strait, while none passed today.
Although Hegseth claims that “hundreds of other ships were lined up,” it appears that most shipping companies currently do not believe the administration’s assurances that the passage is open. “We call on Iran to be reasonable in its actions,” Hegseth said, according to Hina.
There were no new Iranian attacks on ships today. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on the X network that Iran managed to create a “new equation” with its response yesterday.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi asserted that negotiations with the US, mediated by Pakistan, were “progressing”. He called on the Trump administration not to allow miscreants to drag it back into the mud.
However, the situation on the ground remains tense. The UAE Ministry of Defense announced that Iran launched a new missile and drone attack on the country on Tuesday, which was responded by air defense systems.
(Vijesti.ba)
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