The Trump administration is tying itself in knots, clinging to a ceasefire with Iran that now remains in name only.<\/p>\n
On Monday, President Donald Trump said Iran would be \u201cblown off the face of the earth<\/a>\u201d if it attacked U.S. ships guiding vessels through the Strait of Hormuz as part of Trump\u2019s ill-defined \u201cProject Freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n The following day, Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine said Iran had launched numerous attacks. \u201cSince the ceasefire was announced, Iran has fired at commercial vessels nine times and seized two container ships. They\u2019ve attacked U.S. forces more than 10 times,\u201d he told reporters<\/a> on Tuesday. He explained that despite attacking U.S. troops, the strikes were \u201cbelow the threshold of restarting major combat operations at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump suggested to reporters on Tuesday that Iran knew what actions constituted red lines that would violate the ceasefire, but refused to go on record on what they were. \u201cWell, you\u2019ll find out, because I\u2019ll let you know,\u201d he said, without letting anyone know.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of Trump\u2019s standard plays with respect to Iran is resorting to belligerent threats<\/a> of potentially illegal violence in the hopes of coercing Tehran,\u201d Brian Finucane, a senior adviser for the U.S. Program at the International Crisis Group, told The Intercept. \u201cNotwithstanding Trump\u2019s threat, attacks on U.S. ships are a real possibility and a potential vector for the breakdown of the ceasefire.\u201d<\/p>\n At the press conference alongside Caine, War Secretary Pete Hegseth was asked if the truce ended, since the U.S. and Iran had fired at each other in the last 24 hours. \u201cNo, the ceasefire is not over,\u201d he replied<\/a>. \u201cUltimately, this is a separate and distinct project.\u201d\u00a0Both he<\/a> and Trump<\/a> have also repeatedly claimed victory in the war, that they simultaneously claim is paused.<\/p>\n Hegseth suggested last week in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee\u00a0that the ceasefire undercut a 60-day legal deadline mandated by the 1973 War Powers Resolution for the U.S. to exit the war. (The deadline expired on Friday, though the White House can also extend the timeline for another 30 days to assist with the withdrawal of forces.)<\/p>\n \u201cWe are in a ceasefire right now, which our understanding means the 60-day clock pauses or stops in a ceasefire,\u201d\u00a0said Hegseth. He reiterated this erroneous contention<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cI do not believe the statute would support that,\u201d Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., replied, adding that he has \u201cserious constitutional concerns and we don\u2019t want to layer those with additional statutory concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n