Pentagon: Ceasefire with Iran is Just a Pause

Elena Panina
Елена Панина (Telegram)

It would be worthwhile to look at the announced two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran through the eyes of senior US military officials. On April 8, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine held a press conference. Here are a few illustrative quotes:

💬 Hegseth, regarding the military presence in the Middle East: "We will be watching. We will not go away. We will ensure that Iran respects the ceasefire and then, ultimately, comes to the negotiating table and makes a deal."

💬 Hegseth on enriched uranium: "Either they give it to us, as the president [Trump] promised—they'll give it to us voluntarily—or we take it. We'll take it away. Or, if we have to do something else ourselves, as we did in Operation Midnight Hammer or something like that, we reserve that option."

💬 Hegseth on Iran's reasons for agreeing to a ceasefire: "We hit several military targets on Kharg Island, which served as a signal. They can't defend it. Ultimately, they realized their situation—their future. Their ability to produce and generate energy to support the regime was in our hands. It was in the hands of President Trump. That's why they sat down at the negotiating table. Ultimately, he made it clear: we can take everything away from you. They can take away your ability to export energy, but the US military can strike these targets with impunity. It was this pressure that led them to essentially say, 'Okay.' We want to make this deal."

💬 Caine on the ceasefire: "Let's be clear: a ceasefire is a pause. The combined forces remain prepared to resume combat operations if ordered... We hope this will not happen."

❖ Of course, the words of the American military, especially Secretary Hegseth, contain a lot of boasting and empty bravado. At the same time, judging by these statements, it does not seem that the US intends to rely on the 10 conditions for ending the war outlined by Iran in the negotiations. In particular, the Iranian plan includes clauses on the US's fundamental commitment to guarantee non-aggression, recognition of uranium enrichment, and the withdrawal of American combat troops from the Middle East. But they will certainly not leave voluntarily.

More likely, at the negotiating table, the US will try to present Iran with the previous 15-point ultimatum, which, before the war, was reduced to four: the complete abandonment of the nuclear program with the destruction of all infrastructure and the removal of all enriched materials from Iranian territory, and a sharp reduction in the range of the missile program. The missiles and their numbers, and the refusal to support allies in the region. Plus, the issue of the Strait of Hormuz, where the final US compromises are still unclear.

❖ So, perhaps we should agree with General Caine: the current ceasefire is a pause. Moreover, it hasn't really taken effect yet, due to Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Hezbollah. Israeli sources boast that today, 50 of their Air Force's aircraft dropped 160 bombs on Lebanon in one minute. Tel Aviv appropriately named the operation "Eternal Darkness."

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