The US Secretary of Defense confirmed that the ceasefire agreement with Iran remains in effect after retaliatory firing occurred in the Persian Gulf on Monday, while the US is attempting to escort ships out of the strait.
On 5 May 2026, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth affirmed that Iran has not violated the fragile ceasefire agreement between the two sides following an exchange of fire between US and Iranian vessels on Monday, as the US military worked to keep the shipping lanes open in the Strait of Hormuz.
Earlier, the US military announced it had destroyed six small Iranian boats as well as cruise missiles and drones after President Donald Trump deployed the Navy to escort stranded oil tankers through the strait in an operation he called “Project Freedom.”
Pete Hegseth said the operation to protect commercial ships is only a temporary measure, and the four-week-old ceasefire agreement has not ended. “We are not looking for trouble,” he said at a press conference. “Right now, the ceasefire is definitely still in effect, but we will be watching very closely.”
On Monday, Iran fired missiles at US ships and attacked the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a key Washington ally in the Middle East, with missiles and drones. Shortly after Hegseth’s remarks on Tuesday, the UAE Ministry of Defense stated its air defense systems were again countering missile and drone attacks originating from Iran.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, said that the ceasefire violations by the US and its allies have endangered shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
“We know very well that allowing the current situation to continue is something the US cannot bear, while we have not even begun to act in earnest,” he said in a social media post.
Hegseth also said the US has succeeded in escorting vessels through this vital waterway, and that hundreds of commercial ships are now queued up waiting to pass through.
However, on Monday, there were reports of explosions or fires on several cargo ships in the Gulf, and an oil port in the UAE—which hosts a large US airbase—was set ablaze by Iranian missile attacks, causing the UAE to reinstate airspace restrictions over its skies on Tuesday.
The US military also stated that two US cargo ships passed through the strait under the protection of Navy destroyers. Iranian authorities countered that no ships had passed, despite shipping company Maersk confirming that its vessels transited the strait under US Navy escort.
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Source:cna