The United States is prepared to resume strikes against Iran if talks over Tehran’s nuclear program collapse, Pete Hegseth said Friday after a two-hour Situation Room meeting ended without a deal. The warning came as President Donald Trump said he was heading into the White House’s Situation Room to make a “final determination” on the next steps involving Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.
The timing matters because the military posture is no longer theoretical. U.S. Central Command said 115 commercial ships have already been redirected as part of a U.S. military blockade on Iranian ports, a sign that the confrontation is affecting shipping before any fresh airstrikes are ordered. For traders, shippers and governments watching the Gulf, the strait is now more than a talking point; it is part of the leverage around the crisis.
Trump’s meeting ended Friday with no formal announcement, leaving the administration’s next move tied to a negotiation track that still has not produced an answer. Hegseth, who called the U.S. military ready to act again if the nuclear talks fail, effectively kept both the diplomatic and military doors open at once. That dual message is designed to pressure Tehran, but it also means the situation can turn quickly if either side misreads the other.
Iran’s focus on the Strait of Hormuz complicates that strategy. Lisa Daftari said on Fox Report that Tehran is trying to separate the end of the war from the end of its nuclear program, and that it has successfully shifted attention away from the nuclear file and toward the waterway. That makes the strait a bargaining chip, but also a danger point, because the harder Iran leans on it, the harder it becomes for Washington to say it is trying to end the conflict rather than widen it.
The region’s anxiety is reinforced by how quickly warnings inside Iran have become darker. Former IRGC Navy commander Hossein Alaei said he warned senior Iranian official Ali Shamkhani three days before the outbreak of war that “a new war is coming,” and said he told him the next conflict could begin with a strike on Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. His account suggests Iranian officials were already bracing for escalation before the latest round of pressure around the Strait of Hormuz took shape.
For now, the unresolved question is not whether the crisis has spilled into shipping and military planning — it already has. The question is whether the talks can survive long enough to stop the next decision from coming from the Situation Room rather than the negotiating table.
