US forces are ready to resume combat operations against Iran if ordered, Washington’s top military officer said on Tuesday, as the Pentagon threatened a ‘devastating’ response to Iranian attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
The warnings came after Iran’s powerful chief negotiator said Tehran had not even started yet, after a spate of attacks in the crucial trade route by both sides on Monday threatened to reignite the Middle East war.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ navy on Tuesday warned of a firm response if any ships diverged from its approved route through the strait.
The United Arab Emirates, meanwhile, said that it was engaging a barrage of missiles and drones from Iran for the second consecutive day, an accusation categorically denied by the Islamic republic’s military.
“The armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran did not launch any missile or drone operation against the United Arab Emirates these past days,” the Khatam al-Anbiya central command said in a statement.
Iran had on Monday fired missiles and drones at US forces, while Washington said it hit six Iranian boats it said threatened commercial shipping, in the sharpest escalation since a nearly month-long truce.
“US Central Command and the rest of the joint force remain ready to resume major combat operations against Iran if ordered to do so”, General Dan Caine told reporters.
“No adversary should mistake our current restraint with a lack of resolve,” he ordered.
President Donald Trump urged Iran to make a deal to end the war, saying that even as the ceasefire teetered, he did not want to kill more Iranians.
He had earlier described the war as a little skirmish, saying, "Iran has no chance. They never did. They know it.”
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth had said the US was not looking for a fight in the strait but vowed that Iranian attacks would face overwhelming and devastating American firepower.
Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who has become a key figure in peace talks, said the status quo was ‘intolerable for America.’
The trading of fire in the waterway where the rivals are vying for control with duelling maritime blockades took place after Trump announced a plan to guide ships out of the Gulf.
The war, which began more than two months ago with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, has severely damaged the economy despite a weeks-long ceasefire.
Ghalibaf said the actions of the US and its allies had put shipping security at risk, but he added that their ‘malign presence will diminish’, with Tehran vowing not to surrender control of Hormuz.
Israel’s new air force chief Omer Tischler warned that the country was prepared to deploy the entire air force eastward if required to fight Iran.
"The IDF remains on high alert across all fronts. We are closely monitoring developments in the Persian Gulf and are prepared to respond with force to any attempt to harm Israel,” Military chief Eyal Zamir added.
Iran denied that US attacks had hit any of its combat ships but accused Washington of killing five civilian passengers on boats.
But despite the clashes under Trump’s effort dubbed “Project Freedom”, Denmark’s freight giant Maersk on Tuesday said one of its ships had successfully sailed through Hormuz under US escort.
The UAE called the missile and drone attacks it attributed to Iran a dangerous escalation and an unacceptable transgression, while key US ally Saudi Arabia called Tuesday for efforts to reach a political solution.
The attacks delivered another shock to the global economy, with stocks sinking on Tuesday after crude prices surged a day earlier. The tensions raised fears over the truce, and there was no sign of a deal to reopen the strait.
Negotiations between Washington and Tehran remain deadlocked, with only one round of direct peace talks held so far.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian reiterated that Tehran remained ready for dialogue but said that "Our problem is that, on the one hand, the United States is pursuing a policy of maximum pressure against our country and, on the other hand, they expect Iran to come to the negotiating table and ultimately capitulate to their unilateral demands.”
“But such an equation is impossible,” he added.
Soaring energy costs for consumers due to the war have caused economic pain and created a headache for Trump months before midterm elections.
Washington’s European allies are also concerned that the longer the strait remains closed, the more their economies will suffer.
“These attacks are unacceptable,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said on X, adding that “security in the Gulf region has direct consequences for Europe.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also implored Tehran to return to the negotiating table and stop holding the region and the world hostage, echoing calls from French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Macron will speak with Pezeshkian later on Tuesday, he said.
