With U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks appearing to stall, President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used Tuesday’s remarks to project control over Iran and the strategic Strait of Hormuz, where Iranian attacks and threats have disrupted shipping. Trump said he would have a “long talk” about Iran with Chinese President Xi Jinping as he left for a visit to Beijing, and he warned Iran would be “decimated” unless it reached an agreement on its nuclear program. “We have Iran very much under control,” Trump said. “We’re either going to make a deal or they’re going to be decimated. One way or the other, we win.”
Hegseth’s comments came as he faced “tough questions” from lawmakers who oversee defense spending. In testimony to Congress, Hegseth said the military has plenty of bombs and missiles despite concerns about stockpiles, and he maintained that the U.S. is in control of the Strait of Hormuz. “Ultimately we control the strait, because nothing’s going in that we don’t allow to go in,” he said. Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, pressed the administration on its strategy for reopening the waterway, noting that Americans were seeing the impact at the gas pump as the cost of gas rises.
Kuwait’s accusation added to the sense of volatility around the Strait and the broader Iran conflict. Kuwait told reporters that on May 1, a paramilitary Revolutionary Guard team tried to infiltrate Bubiyan Island, which sits in the Persian Gulf near Iraq and Iran. Kuwait said its forces detained four men and disrupted the attack as two escaped. The allegation surfaced just hours before Trump was to depart for Beijing, and it came against the backdrop of continuing efforts to keep the ceasefire from unraveling.
Iran rejected the claim. Iranian state media quoted the country’s foreign ministry calling Kuwait’s allegation “baseless,” while referencing the accusation’s origins in the war and during a “shaky ceasefire that is still holding.” The foreign ministry also addressed the detention case, saying that Iranian officials attributed the incident to a “conventional maritime patrol mission” in which four officers entered Kuwait’s waters because of “a disruption in the navigation system,” and it denied hostile intent while calling for the men’s release.
The situation around Hormuz has remained tense even after previous diplomatic steps. The AP reported that the narrow strait remains in Iran’s chokehold, that the U.S. is maintaining a blockade against Iran, and that negotiations between the two countries appear at a standstill. In an apparent warning against renewed escalation, Iranian diplomat Kazem Gharibabadi said Tuesday on X that “True peace cannot be built with a literature of humiliation, threats, and coercive score-settling.” MSI previously reported that new attacks in the Strait of Hormuz challenged the ceasefire.
Regional defense coordination also drew fresh attention. The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, revealed at a conference in Tel Aviv that Israel has sent Iron Dome air-defense weapons and personnel to the United Arab Emirates. The report said it was the first publicly acknowledged deployment of Israel’s military to the Emirates, where Abu Dhabi and Dubai are located, underscoring expanding Israel-UAE ties following the UAE’s diplomatic recognition of Israel in 2020. The Israeli military declined to comment on Huckabee’s statement, while the UAE did not immediately respond.
The AP said the Iron Dome deployment came amid a pattern of Iranian missile and drone fire directed at the UAE even after the ceasefire was reached last month. It also noted that the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, made comments similar to Huckabee’s during an event at the Israeli mission, suggesting the release of information was intentional and likely had the Emiratis’ and Israelis’ blessing. Iran did not immediately respond to Huckabee’s remarks, though it has previously suggested that Israel maintained military and intelligence presence in the Emirates.
The day’s developments also included a separate destabilizing event in Iran itself. Late Tuesday, a magnitude 4.6 earthquake shook parts of Iran, with aftershocks following, according to Iranian state media. Witnesses felt the temblor in Tehran, where some people sought refuge in the streets, and Iranian state TV said there were no reports of casualties.
In parallel diplomacy, Norway’s deputy foreign minister met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran and pressed for opening the strait. Deputy Foreign Minister Andreas Kravik said the attacks on commercial shipping and obstruction of passageway must end, and Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in an email that Kravik stressed Iran’s actions affecting third-party countries were “completely unacceptable,” adding that Norway had some 25 vessels stranded.