A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Some commercial ships have left the Strait of Hormuz under a major U.S. operation to reopen the waterway.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The U.S. and Iran traded fire on Monday, threatening a month-old ceasefire. The fighting erupted when the U.S. launched the operation, but Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth insisted this morning that the ceasefire is not over.
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PETE HEGSETH: We prefer this to be a peaceful operation but are locked and loaded to defend our people, our ships, our aircraft and this mission without hesitation.
FADEL: In a few moments, we'll look at where all this leaves negotiations between the two sides with Aaron David Miller, a longtime U.S. adviser and negotiator in the Middle East. First, here are the latest developments.
MARTÍNEZ: We're joined by NPR national security correspondent Greg Myre. Greg, I mean, the focus for the past month has been these halting peace efforts. So are we now all heading back to more fighting?
GREG MYRE, BYLINE: Well, at this point, we can say we did see a major change in direction yesterday. You know, over the past month, the U.S. and Iranian naval blockades have kept the region very tense - lots of back-and-forth about negotiations - but relatively quiet. Now we see the U.S. was using this time to prepare for this operation. And there was a lot of confusion initially yesterday - reports of shooting in and around the Strait of Hormuz, of the U.S. and commercial ships on the move. It was hard to make sense of it. We finally got some clarity when Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of Central Command in the Middle East, held a hastily arranged conference call with U.S. journalists in Washington.
MARTÍNEZ: So how did Admiral Cooper explain the operation?
MYRE: So he said multiple U.S. Navy destroyers passed through the strait, going into the Gulf itself and assisted these two U.S.-flagged commercial ships coming out of the Gulf and going through the strait in the other direction. Now, these commercial ships and the new U.S. Navy ships all came under attack from Iran. Cooper said the U.S. forces shot down the incoming drones and missiles and that U.S. helicopters sank six Iranian small boats. Iran also fired across the strait and hit the United Arab Emirates. It fired missiles and drones. It set off a major fire at the country's largest oil storage facility. This was the first time the Emirates had come under attack since the ceasefire.
MARTÍNEZ: Any sense of how big this U.S. effort will be and what the ultimate goal is?
MYRE: Yeah. Cooper said the military has set up what he called a defensive umbrella across the Strait of Hormuz. Now, we've heard a lot of talk about a possible U.S. Navy escort of oil tankers, and this is something the U.S. did way back in the 1980s. But the way Cooper described it, this is not just one Navy ship escorting one oil tanker at a time. This approach is more comprehensive.
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BRAD COOPER: I think we have a much better defensive arrangement in this process, where we have multiple layers that include ships, helicopters, aircraft, airborne early warning, electronic warfare. We have a much broader defensive package than you would have ever if you were just escorting.
MYRE: So this worked yesterday with two commercial ships. It will have to be on a much larger scale and support a steady stream of traffic to be a real success.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. I realize we're in the first stage still, but what are the chances of it being a success?
MYRE: So there was a Pentagon news conference this morning. And Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Dan Caine, were both there talking to reporters, and they gave a very upbeat answer. Now, they said the shooting yesterday was below the threshold of resuming combat operations. And they said, though, that the first day of this operation showed that the U.S., not Iran, controls the strait, that the U.S. blockade is holding, while Iran's is not. No new clashes have been reported today. However, no additional commercial ships have gone through the strait. And one final note - Hegseth and Caine both described this as a temporary operation and said they hope that Iran does make a deal.
MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Greg Myre. Greg, thanks a lot.
MYRE: Sure thing, A. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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