Hegseth says 'the ceasefire is not over' after U.S., Iran exchange fire

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday said the fragile ceasefire with Iran is still in effect, one day after Tehran attacked U.S. forces and the commercial vessels they were escorting through the Strait of Hormuz.

"The ceasefire is not over," Hegseth told reporters at a press briefing at the Pentagon.

Iran's aggression came in response to the U.S. launching "Project Freedom," an effort to escort commercial ships out of the Persian Gulf, where many have been stranded since the war began on Feb. 28.

Hegseth said there's a distinction between that operation, which President Donald Trump announced Sunday evening, and the broader conflict centered on confronting Iran's nuclear ambitions.

"Ultimately, this is a separate, distinct project," he said, "and we expected there would be some churn at the beginning, which happened. And we said we would defend and defend aggressively, and we absolutely have."

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine said that, since the ceasefire was announced on April 7, Iran has fired at commercial vessels nine times, seized two container ships and attacked U.S. forces more than 10 times.

But those figures are "all below the threshold of restarting major combat operations at this point," he said.

This is developing news. Please check back for updates.