The latest flare-up between U.S. and Iranian forces underscores how the current “ceasefire” has so far failed to stop fighting between the two countries.
On Wednesday, U.S. forces intercepted five Iranian one-way attack drones launched near the Strait of Hormuz and “prevented a sixth drone launch from an Iranian ground control site in Bandar Abbas,” according to U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM.
CENTCOM’s carefully worded statement did not specify if the U.S. military had attacked the Iranian ground site. Nor did it include any information on how U.S. forces had stopped the five Iranian drones.
Notably, hostilities resumed just hours later when Iran launched a ballistic missile toward Kuwait, which Kuwaiti forces shot down, according to CENTCOM, which described the incident as an “ egregious ceasefire violation by the Iranian regime.”
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This all comes after the U.S. military’s strikes against Iranian missile launch sites and boats on Monday, attacks that Central Command described as “self-defense strikes,” a euphemism the military has often used. The most recent tit-for-tat clashes make it questionable whether the April 7 agreement between the United States and Iran can accurately be described as a “ceasefire.”
Over the past several weeks, both countries have continued to trade punches in an ongoing fight that falls just short of open warfare.
Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters on May 5 that Iranian attacks on commercial ships and U.S. troops were “all below the threshold of restarting major combat operations at this point.”
Caine did not explain what exactly the threshold is for resuming such operations against Iran, saying that such a move would be a political decision that is “above my pay grade.”
“What I’ll say is it’s low harassing fire right now,” Caine said at a Pentagon news conference. “It feels like Iran is grasping at straws to try to do something across the southern flank.”
But it is unclear how much “harassing fire” from Iran the United States is willing to tolerate, or how much longer U.S. officials can claim that the hostilities with Iran have ceased amid continuing attacks.
The U.S. has, in the past, attempted to end wars by decree, such as when President George W. Bush declared in May 2003 that major combat operations in Iraq had ended, or when President Barack Obama issued a statement in December 2014 that the U.S.-led NATO combat mission in Afghanistan had ended.
The U.S. military continued to blockade Iran’s ports as part of an effort to force Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz to all commercial shipping. As of May 23, the U.S. military had “redirected” 100 ships and disabled four vessels to enforce the blockade, according to CENTCOM.
Even if the United States and Iran agree to extend the ceasefire, at this rate, it is unclear if the shooting will actually stop.
