President Donald Trump has privately told aides that American troop deaths would be his red line for ending the ceasefire with Iran, even as he insists publicly that the weekslong pause in airstrikes remains intact despite ongoing violent skirmishes, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The most intense fighting since the early April ceasefire erupted this week, with Iran launching missiles and drones at US regional bases and Kuwait's international airport. The attacks resulted in one fatality.
Trump's apparent reluctance to restart the war suggests he may tolerate smaller flare-ups for weeks or even months to avoid a wider Middle East conflict.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio characterised the back-and-forth attacks as defensive and not a return to full-scale war.
"These are happening in response to Iranian actions," Rubio told a House hearing on Wednesday. "If they don't shoot at those ships, we don't shoot. But we have to respond."
Trump has frequently claimed that an end-of-war agreement is near, one that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, dismantle Iran's nuclear program and eliminate its enriched uranium stockpile. Yet in a New York Post interview, he said he was in no hurry to finalise the deal, adding that the US blockade could potentially last until Labor Day, though he did not rule out a sooner resolution.
The escalating violence in the strait and Iran's attacks on regional targets have sharpened Trump's diplomatic predicament. For weeks, Trump's team has worked on a "memorandum of understanding" with Iran to frame negotiations over a roughly 60-day period. Trump rejected Iran's latest proposal last Friday, telling aides that Tehran must offer serious concessions upfront rather than over an extended timeline.
Iran, however, insists that nuclear negotiations can only begin after the US unfreezes its assets or provides other financial relief.
Iran has also demanded an end to fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, its Lebanese proxy. This prompted Trump to press Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to call off planned Beirut attacks. Despite that, cross-border fighting continued Wednesday, with Hezbollah firing rockets into Israel and Israeli strikes hitting near the Lebanese capital.
Following US-mediated talks on Wednesday, Israel and Lebanon agreed to renew a ceasefire, but the truce depends on a halt to hostilities with Hezbollah, according to a joint State Department statement. Hezbollah was not party to the discussions.
