White House Signals Willingness to End Iran War Without Reopening Strait of Hormuz

Ensuring safe passage for oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz is not one of the “core objectives” President Donald Trump has set for ending his military operation against Iran, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday, potentially setting the stage for Iran to continue to flex its strategic position over one of the world's busiest oil shipping channels for the foreseeable future.

Leavitt was asked at a White House press briefing on Monday whether Trump was willing to declare victory in Iran and end the war even if Iran continued to block most vessels from passing through the strait. Leavitt said the U.S. and Israel began their military strikes in late February to destroy Iran’s navy, dismantle its missile and drone infrastructure, weaken its proxies in the region and prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. 

“The full reopening of the Strait is something the Administration is working towards, but the core objectives of the operation have been clearly defined for the American people by the Commander in Chief,” Leavitt said. 

Despite the sinking of its navy and daily bombardments from U.S. warplanes, Iran’s military has still managed to menace merchant ships moving through the crucial waterway, cutting off oil shipments and driving up the price of crude oil on the global market. Iran allowed some ships to pass through the chokepoint in late March, after intense diplomacy from the U.S. 

The prospect of Iran continuing to exert greater control over the narrow Strait could make it one of the lasting legacies of the conflict.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview with Al Jazeera on Monday that the Strait of Hormuz would “reopen one way or another” after the military operation was over.  “It will be open because Iran agrees to abide by international law and not block the commercial waterway, or a coalition of nations around the world and the region, with the participation of the United States, will make sure that it’s open,” Rubio said.

Trump said in a social media post on Monday that “great progress” had been made to end the war, but warned that he was prepared to fully destroy Iran’s “Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!)” if a deal wasn’t reached that included the Strait of Hormuz “immediately open for business.” 

Leavitt signaled that Trump may achieve those objectives by mid-April. “The Pentagon has always stated four to six weeks as an estimated timeline for Operation Epic Fury,” Leavitt said in the White House briefing room. "We're on day 30 today—you do the math."