The ink was barely dry on the U.S.-Iran ceasefire when Iran threatened to open fire on the Strait of Hormuz again — and the White House fired back.
Iranian state media and IRGC-linked outlets reported Wednesday that tanker traffic through the vital waterway was “closed” in retaliation for Israel’s continued strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Iranian Navy sent a direct warning to vessels already in the Persian Gulf.
“Any vessel trying to travel into the sea … will be targeted and destroyed…” read the message, received by multiple ships, according to numerous sources.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the reports head-on at Wednesday’s briefing.
“That is completely unacceptable,” Leavitt said. She said what had been “relayed to [Trump] privately” is that the strait is open and that “we have seen an uptick in activity.”
“So long as the Strait of Hormuz remains open with no limitations or delays, these extraordinarily sensitive and complex negotiations will take place behind closed doors over the course of the next two weeks,” she said. She added that the U.S. would consider even Iran’s demand for $2 million transit tolls a “limitation” — and therefore a violation of the terms.
The ceasefire had been announced just hours earlier, struck roughly one hour before President Donald Trump’s deadline for Iran to reopen the waterway or face total destruction. Trump hailed it as “a big day for World Peace!” Markets surged and oil prices plunged on the news.
But the situation deteriorated almost immediately.
Iran said the strait suspension was triggered by Israeli airstrikes on terrorists in Lebanon, which Iran insists must be included in any ceasefire. Israel has rejected that condition.
Vice President JD Vance called the deal a “fragile truce.”
“This is why I say this is a fragile truce,” Vance said. “You have people who clearly want to come to the negotiating table and work with us to find a good deal, and then you have people who are lying about even the fragile truce that we’ve already struck.”
Iran’s news agency published a statement claiming Tehran had “forced the criminal America to accept its 10-point plan” — a version of events that includes continuing Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz, a full withdrawal of U.S. forces from the region, and a lifting of all sanctions. The U.S. has agreed to none of those terms.
U.S. and Iranian negotiators are expected to meet in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Friday, with Witkoff, Kushner, and possibly Vance heading the American delegation.