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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine speak to members of the media during a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, Tuesday, May 5, 2026.
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President Donald Trump says he has paused the U.S. effort to guide stranded commercial vessels from the Strait of Hormuz to finalize a deal with Iran to end the war. Trump also says the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports would continue. His announcement came in a social media post Tuesday evening. No further details were immediately available. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier that major U.S. military operations against Iran are over. He says Iran must agree to U.S. demands on its nuclear program and reopen the strait, a waterway vital to global oil and gas supplies.
'This is a temporary mission for us,' Sec. Hegseth said. 'We expect the world to step up.'
President Donald Trump says he is pausing the U.S. effort to guide stranded vessels out of the Strait of Hormuz to allow time for a deal to end the Iran war, but that the American forces’ blockade of Iranian ports would remain in place. Meanwhile, Chinese state media say Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Beijing on Wednesday morning. Details of the meeting weren't disclosed. But it was the first time since the start of the war that Araghchi has traveled to China, whose close economic and political ties to Tehran give it a unique position of influence.
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