On Thursday (local time), US President Donald Trump called the recent US operation against Iranian targets a “love tap” and insisted that despite the recent military engagements between the two sides in the region, a ceasefire is still in place.
In an interview with ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott over the phone, Trump described the attacks as having a narrow scope.In a post on X, Scott stated, “President Trump informs me in a phone call that the retaliatory strikes against Iranian targets are merely a “love tap.”
“No, no, the ceasefire is going,” Trump said in response to Scott’s question about whether the reported escalation meant the ceasefire had broken down. It’s working.
The remarks coincide with increased tensions in the region as a result of gunfights between Iranian and US naval forces close to the Strait of Hormuz, a vital international energy transit route.
In the midst of the ceasefire deal between the two sides, Trump earlier stated that American and Iranian naval troops had engaged in gunfire in the Strait of Hormuz. He said that three American destroyers had successfully crossed the vital canal despite being attacked.
Trump claimed that three US Navy destroyers “transited very successfully” out of the Strait of Hormuz in a post on Truth Social, adding that Iranian forces opened fire on them while they were passing.
The US President went on to say that Iranian naval vessels were “completely destroyed,” and that drones and missiles that were aimed at them were intercepted.
Meanwhile, Fox News Chief National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin claimed, citing a senior US official, that the US military carried out strikes on these strategically important maritime corridors of the Islamic Republic of Iran in response to reports of numerous explosions near the Qeshm port and Bandar Abbas in southern Iran on Thursday (local time).
Numerous reports from Iranian state media stated that there had been multiple explosions close to these locations in southern Iran.
In a series of posts on X, the Fox News correspondent stated that the senior US official confirmed the strikes but stressed that the operation does not signal a return to full-scale conflict in West Asia or the end of the existing ceasefire arrangement.
“US military just carried out strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Port and Bandar Abbas: Senior US official tells me, but this is not a restarting of the war,” she stated in a single post.
She added in a later update that the official reaffirmed the action’s narrow scope, stating that it shouldn’t be seen as a wider escalation or a failure of the two sides’ ongoing de-escalation efforts.Griffin wrote, “A senior US official tells me that it was a US military strike on Iran’s Qeshm port and Bandar Abbas moments ago, but this is not a restart of the war or an end to the ceasefire.”
