US President Donald Trump on Thursday played down American strikes on Iranian targets, calling them “just a love tap” and insisting the ceasefire between Washington and Tehran remains intact.
Speaking to ABC News by phone after reports of fresh clashes involving US naval vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, Mr. Trump said the situation had not escalated into a breakdown of the truce. “The ceasefire is going. It’s in effect,” he said, adding that the strikes were “just a love tap.”
The remarks followed a US Central Command (CENTCOM) statement that American forces had carried out what it described as “self-defence” strikes against Iranian targets after attacks on US destroyers transiting Hormuz. CENTCOM said US forces intercepted the attacks and responded militarily, with no American assets hit.
Tehran rejected the US framing. Iran accused Washington of violating the ceasefire and said American strikes had targeted ships and civilian areas near the strategic waterway, claims the US has not acknowledged.
The exchange comes a day after the US fired on an Iranian-flagged tanker in the Gulf of Oman and as the two sides edge toward a temporary three-stage framework brokered by Pakistan to formally end the war and reopen the strait. Brent crude, which fell roughly 11 percent earlier in the week on hopes for a deal, has been swinging on each new escalation signal.
Trump’s “love tap” characterisation is the most candid presidential framing yet of the live military exchanges occurring under the ceasefire — recasting a CENTCOM-confirmed strike as too minor to break the truce while Tehran is calling it a violation. A sustained de-escalation would ease the shipping insurance and freight premiums that have pushed up Sri Lanka’s fuel import costs since the war began on February 28.
Sources: Newswire; Ada Derana.
