Good Tuesday evening. In this edition: Rubio says Iran combat operations are "over" as U.S. pivots to reopening Strait of Hormuz.
Plus, ballroom and primaries.
Iran War
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. combat operation launched against Iran in February, dubbed "Operation Epic Fury," has ended and the U.S. is now undertaking a separate mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
"The operation is over. Epic Fury, as the president notified Congress, we're done with that stage of it," he told reporters at the White House, declaring that the U.S. had already achieved its war objectives. "We're now on to this Project Freedom."
The U.S. launched "Project Freedom" on Monday, seeking to free up the roughly 1,600 ships and 20,000 seafarers who have been trapped in or near the strait since its closure by Iran in response to the U.S. and Israeli attacks.
"This is not an offensive operation. This is a defensive operation," Secretary Rubio said. "And what that means is very simple: there's no shooting unless we are shot at first."
Secretary Rubio called on other nations to join the effort and urged the United Nations to adopt a resolution condemning Iran for closing the strait, calling it a "real test" for the international body.
"If you're telling me that the international community and hundreds of countries cannot rally behind that, then I don't know what the utility of the U.N. system is, if it can't even solve something as straightforward as that," he said.
He said a cost needs to be imposed on Iran or else it could set a precedent for other countries to choke off international waterways and charge tolls.
"The whole world should join us in this commendation, and the whole world should join us in doing something about it, by the way. It shouldn't just be us," Secretary Rubio said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also made the case that this new operation was "separate and distinct" from the broader war against Iran.
"Project Freedom is defensive in nature, focused in scope and temporary in duration, with one mission: protecting innocent commercial shipping from Iranian aggression," he said at a Pentagon press briefing.
"We're not looking for a fight, but Iran also cannot be allowed to block innocent countries and their goods from an international waterway."
Secretary Hegseth also said the U.S. ceasefire with Iran was still in place despite both sides trading fire in recent days.
"No, the ceasefire is not over,"he told reporters. "Ultimately, this is a separate and distinct project, and we expected there would be some, some churn at the beginning, which happened, and we said we would defend and defend aggressively, and we absolutely have."
On Monday, Iran launched missiles and drones at the United Arab Emirates for the first time since the ceasefire went into effect in early April. They also fired upon U.S. military vessels, with the U.S. in kind sinking six Iranian speedboats.
President Trump declined to specify what would constitute an Iranian violation of the ceasefire.
"Well, you'll find out, because I'll let you know," he told a reporter in the Oval Office. "They know what to do, and they know what not to do, more importantly."
Senate Republicansproposed $1 billion in funding as part of an upcoming spending package for the Secret Service to use for security upgrades tied to the construction of President Trump's White House ballroom. The funding was included in the Judiciary Committee's portion of the nearly $72 billion reconciliation package that Republicans intend to use to fund ICE and CBP with a party-line vote. Committee staff for Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the panel's chair, maintain the funds cannot be used for parts of the project not related to White House security. Senate Democrats have said they will continue to press the relevance of funding the ballroom as Americans' cost of living rises, and to challenge portions of the reconciliation package they believe violate the strict guidelines governing the reconciliation process.
Ohio and Indiana voters are heading to the polls for their primary elections. Former 2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is expected to cruise to victory in the GOP primary for Ohio governor. The general election, however, against former state health director and presumptive Democratic nominee Amy Acton is expected to be competitive. Ohio's new congressional maps have put 22-term Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D) in Republican crosshairs, with five GOP candidates vying to challenge her. Those include the 2024 nominee, former state Rep. Josh Williams and former ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan. At the state level, President Trump is targeting Indiana, where his preferred candidates are seeking to oust eight GOP state legislators who opposed his redistricting effort.
For your radar…
Journalists, editors, and media leaders speak Wednesday at the Sir Harry Evans Investigative Journalism Summit, also known as "Truth Tellers," in London. Watch LIVE on C-SPAN2 at 10:15am ET.
