Trump and Hegseth Are Now Just Pretending We’re No Longer at War with Iran

Quick question: During a ceasefire, is it typically considered acceptable or normal operating procedure for your enemy to continue firing missiles and explosive drones at you?

Follow-up query: During a ceasefire, do you typically find yourself blowing up the enemy’s boats while defending neutral vessels from their attacks?

Because both of those things were happening all day yesterday off the coast of Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, but to listen to President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth tell it, none of that constitutes the end of the tenuous “ceasefire” with Iran that is theoretically—at least in a normal universe—supposed to lead to some sort of now repeatedly delayed peace deal. It’s a glaring, genuinely infuriating highlight of the Trump administration’s signature brand of “reject the evidence of your eyes and ears” doublethink: Watch as we engage in war in real time, firing upon and killing enemy combatants on the high seas, while simultaneously telling you that the country is not at war, because admitting that we are still at war would be:

A. Incredibly unpopular, and

B. Technically illegal, given that the 60 days enumerated in the War Powers Act of 1973 have already elapsed, wherein the President is required to “terminate any use of the United States Armed Forces” in an undeclared war where the chief executive has not gotten the approval of Congress.

Hegseth is such a ridiculous person.

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— Simon Rosenberg (@simonwdc.bsky.social) May 5, 2026 at 9:38 AM

And thus, we end up in the deeply awkward and embarrassing circumstance where the POTUS and the Secretary of Defense must both project strength and bluster toward Iran, and swear at the same time that they wouldn’t dream of continuing outright hostilities that would affect the completely stalled peace process. For as we all know, blowing up half a dozen of the enemy’s boats in one day, as our navy confirms we did yesterday, while those boats fire on shipping trying to pass through the strait, in no way represents “hostilities.” In order for it to be hostilities, it has to be at least 10 boats. Everyone knows this. So what if our airplanes are now maybe going missing in the region as well? That’s not war. I’m sure the United Arab Emirates agrees, as they shoot down incoming Iranian missiles.

It’s honestly impressive how much of a clusterfuck the administration has managed to engineer here, where every imperative they have when it comes to Iran directly contradicts one of their other imperatives. Trump desperately needs oil tankers and other shipping to be passing through the Strait of Hormuz, as gas prices are currently going through the ceiling, with the national average price at the pump poised to soar past $4.50 within the next few days. He needs this badly enough to order the military to begin escorting ships through the strait despite Iranian threats to attack, but must simultaneously claim that “Project Freedom” is not an escort mission, because that would apparently constitute the renewal of war. He’s got Pete Hegseth fighting his most crucial semantic battle in front of the press this morning, saying that these non-escort escorts are “temporary” and “defensive,” and that “this operation is separate and distinct from Operation Epic Fury.” Trump’s approval has plummeted to historic, Jan. 6, 2021-level lows on the back of grim economic tidings and gas prices, but he simultaneously fears that the ceasefire being seen to break entirely would only push that approval rating down to the next historic low.

So here we are: Trapped in an ongoing war, one that has already cost more than $25 billion, that the President and the DOD won’t even admit is still happening. Iran has already attacked U.S. forces more than 10 times during the ceasefire, and has surely learned the most important lesson in the process: that they have Donald Trump entirely over a barrel at this point. He is constrained by fear in a way that the purely authoritarian leaders of Iran simply are not, and as much as he would no doubt like to wield supreme power, he’s unfortunate enough that in a society accustomed to first world purchasing power, even members of his own MAGA coalition still give at least a bit of a shit when prices are soaring and mountains of cash are being set on fire for no good reason. It has never been more clear that every one of the administration’s goals in the Iran War has failed. Regime change? Trump may enjoy sprinkling those words into conversation, but it sure as hell hasn’t happened. The Iranian nuclear program? There’s more evidence every day that it persists despite our bombs, just as it did when we supposedly “obliterated” it last year. To the average American, the only genuinely tangible outcome of the Iran War to date is that gas was $3 per gallon in mid-February, and it’s $4.50 or more now.

But don’t worry, folks. We’ve got a ceasefire. A ceasefire that conveniently means Trump doesn’t need the approval of Congress to continue blowing up Iranian ships, as we were doing all of yesterday. Thank God that during a ceasefire, even one where both sides are, you know, currently firing, “the clock stops” on needing the approval of Congress, according to Hegseth. It’s good to know that even the Trump administration’s “warfighters” double as astute constitutional scholars.

Hegseth on congressional approval: “Our view is that ultimately with the ceasefire, the clock stops”

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) May 5, 2026 at 8:30 AM

Trump, as if it should need to be pointed out, can’t even decide which line to run with for the entirety of a single conversation. Speaking to Fox News yesterday, he vowed that Iranian forces would soon be “blown off the face of the Earth” if they targeted U.S. ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Moments later, he insisted that the war was “militarily, essentially over.” Hours after that, U.S. forces were destroying Iranian ships.

Grilled by conversative radio host Hugh Hewitt on whether more strikes were forthcoming, an exasperated Trump said “Well, I can’t tell you that.” When asked why, he said one of the most truthful things that has likely come out of the President’s mouth in recent memory: “If I answered that question, you’d say this man is not smart enough to be President.”

On that front, the majority of Americans now firmly agree.