Tuesday opened with the Trump administration presenting its Iran-war posture as both controlled and conditional, but officials’ messages quickly diverged—partly because the facts on the water did not line up cleanly with the words being used on land. In a report describing a whirlwind week, the Associated Press said the administration’s narrative “pinballed” from assertions that a tenuous ceasefire was holding and military operations were over to new threats of bombing Iran.
Early Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described a U.S. effort to protect stranded ships so they could traverse the Strait of Hormuz. Hegseth insisted it was defensive and that the truce was still in place even after Iran launched missiles and drones at U.S. forces, sinking Tehran’s small attack boats, according to the AP account.
Later that day, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters at the White House that the military operation was “concluded” and that the U.S. achieved its objectives. In almost the same breath, the AP said, Rubio also described President Donald Trump as still seeking a “path of peace,” saying it would require Iran to agree to a deal to reopen the vital oil shipping corridor.
By Tuesday evening, Trump announced that the ship-protection effort was paused to see whether an agreement could be reached. But on Wednesday morning, Trump again threatened that bombing would resume if Tehran did not accept U.S. terms, according to the AP report. The sharp turns were unfolding as the administration tried to balance a ceasefire message with efforts aimed at reopening a waterway in which about 20% of the world’s oil normally flows.
The AP said administration officials also faced an additional challenge: energy and economic fallout. With fuel prices rising, Republicans faced mounting pressure to find solutions ahead of midterm congressional elections, the report said. Elizabeth Dent, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the administration’s messaging problems were rooted in how quickly the war evolved and how that affected communications. Dent said the war “wasn’t sold to the American public in a way that I think was palatable,” and she added that Trump was “sort of doing everything he can to prevent a return of hostilities” because the conflict had been unpopular.
Dent and Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group both described broader process issues. Vaez, the AP reported, said “This is not an administration that operates based on a policy process. It operates based on impulse,” and he argued the president appeared “tired of this war and reluctant to continue investing his political capital into it.”
The AP’s timeline also detailed how administration statements about the immediate military situation appeared inconsistent. It said Trump had claimed Sunday that U.S. forces would safely guide hundreds of stranded commercial vessels out of the strait, even as Iran effectively closed the waterway by firing at ships off its coast. On Tuesday, Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine said two American-flagged freighters transited the waterway to lead the effort, but the AP said Iran fired at U.S. ships and the military sank six Iranian small attack boats.
When asked about the fire from both sides, Hegseth told reporters, “No, the ceasefire is not over.” The AP said Caine also described the Iranian attacks as not reaching the level of “restarting major combat operations.” Later, Rubio framed Trump’s preference as diplomacy, saying “Operation Epic Fury is concluded. We achieved the objectives of that operation,” and adding that the president would prefer “a deal,” the AP reported.
Trump’s own messaging added to the churn. The AP said Trump halted the strait-protection operation after posting on social media Tuesday night that he was halting it to see what would happen with negotiations. It also reported that Saudi Arabia had been skeptical of the short-lived plan to guide stranded vessels out of the strait, citing a person familiar with diplomatic conversations who spoke anonymously. The Saudi Embassy in Washington did not offer immediate comment.
By Wednesday, the AP said Trump was threatening Iran once again, writing on Truth Social that if Iran did not agree, “the bombing starts” at “a much higher level and intensity than it was before.” In parallel, the AP reported that the U.S. military said it shot at and disabled an Iranian oil tanker as it tried to breach the blockade of Iran’s shipping.
Beyond the battlefield messages, the AP said the administration also tried to persuade other countries to help reopen the strait, first with harsher rhetoric and later with more toned-down language. Trump had told some countries to “go get your own oil” and suggested it was not America’s job to secure the strait, the report said, while Rubio told reporters that many allies lacked the necessary resources. Rubio said, “A lot of countries would love to do something about it. But they don’t have a navy, right? Or they can’t get there in time,” according to the AP.
The AP said that after Trump suspended the initiative, two U.S. officials described internal deliberations over whether and how to proceed, speaking anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The report added that Britain and France had rejected on-again, off-again suggestions that they become militarily involved, but it said they formed an international maritime coalition to secure the strait only if the threat to shipping ends. The AP also said France’s aircraft carrier strike group was moving south of the Suez Canal and into the Red Sea in preparation for a potential French-British mission.
The AP further reported that Trump’s planned trip to Beijing next week added complications. Vaez said going to China while the strait remains closed was “humiliating for President Trump,” and he said the move could put China in a position of strength because Trump would have to ask for help to resolve a problem that “didn’t exist before he launched a war.”