The U.S. Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, said the ceasefire between Iran and the United States is still active, even though there have been limited incidents where each side fired at the other. He said the U.S. is monitoring the situation closely and warned that any escalation would be handled by the president, while urging Iran to keep actions below the threshold.<\/p>\n

Hegseth\u2019s remarks were tied to \u201cProject Freedom,\u201d an operation authorized by President Donald Trump to clear the Strait of hormuz to protect freedom of navigation and support shipping<\/a>. He said the initial phase may involve some \u201cchurn,\u201d but that the U.S. is defending aggressively and expects Iran to understand that.<\/p>\n

The article also cites U.S. Central Command reporting that, after Iran opened fire on American warships in the Middle East on Monday, the U.S.responded and destroyed six Iranian small boats, using assets positioned around the Strait. It further notes that U.S. Navy forces have been sent to support Project freedom,and frames the mission as likely to influence any future peace negotiations<\/a> between the U.S. and Iran. <\/p>\n