President Donald Trump has paused U.S. strikes against Iran after nearly two weeks of escalating attacks, giving diplomacy another opening as senior military officials reportedly warn that renewed large-scale combat could strain critical American munitions stockpiles.
The United States and Iran held their fire over the weekend, ending a 13-night stretch of tit-for-tat strikes around the Strait of Hormuz. The pause remained in place Monday, although neither side has described it as a formal ceasefire and the White House has made clear that military action could resume.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said Sunday that Trump was allowing negotiations time to develop.
“He’s giving talks some space. He’s giving it a little bit of room,” Waltz said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Waltz said Oman, Iran and other negotiators have remained in contact “at every level,” from senior officials to technical teams.
In a separate appearance on CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” Waltz said the pause was “giving diplomacy a little bit of time” but warned Tehran not to mistake the lull for weakness.
“Additional military assets are moving into the region,” Waltz said. “They should believe the president when he says they’re locked and loaded, and all options are on the table.”
The diplomatic picture remains uncertain. Iranian officials said weekend talks with Oman over navigation through the Strait of Hormuz were constructive, but Tehran insisted Monday that it had not asked to reopen direct talks with Washington.
“Reports about Iran requesting negotiations with the U.S. are fabricated,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said, according to reports. “This is not in our DNA.”
Iran also maintained that vessels must travel through a route approved and monitored by Tehran. The United States has rejected Iran’s claim of authority over shipping through the vital waterway, which carried roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil before the war.
That unresolved dispute leaves Trump with a difficult choice: give mediators more time or resume a bombing campaign that some of his military advisers reportedly believe has reached the limit of what it can accomplish.
Axios reported that Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, recommended ending the recent campaign around the strait after American forces had significantly weakened Iran’s ability to attack ships and exhausted most of their designated targets.
According to the outlet, Cooper advised that continuing the same strikes would offer diminishing returns unless Trump chose to launch a much broader operation against targets left over from the earlier phase of the war.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, separately warned Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that shortages of air-defense interceptors could eventually hinder the military’s ability to protect American forces and allies in the region, Axios and The New York Times reported.
Vice President JD Vance also raised concerns about escalation during a White House meeting Friday, according to CNN.
The reported warnings do not mean the U.S. military is unable to resume combat. Rather, they reflect concern about the cost of another sustained campaign and the need to preserve high-end defensive weapons for other threats around the world.
Waltz publicly pushed back against any suggestion that American forces are unprepared.
“I want to be crystal clear: The U.S. military — and I’ve verified this every which way — has everything that it needs to conduct this campaign as effectively as it needs to be,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
On CBS, Waltz called reports that the military lacks necessary weapons “nonsense” and said more assets were being moved into the theater. He also blamed the Biden administration for leaving Hegseth with “a depleted situation” after years of U.S. support for Ukraine and operations against Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen.
Still, the administration’s own funding request underscores the pressure on military supplies.
Hegseth and Caine asked senators last week to approve an $87.6 billion supplemental package, including $67.1 billion for the Pentagon. The request includes $40 billion to expand production lines and accelerate delivery of high-demand weapons such as solid rocket motors, precision-guided bombs, hypersonic weapons and counter-drone systems.
Hegseth described the proposal as an “urgent, necessary injection of resources” and warned that military training could be curtailed if Congress fails to provide additional funding.
House Republicans moved ahead last week with a separate $95 billion budget blueprint covering the Iran war and other Trump priorities. The House approved the resolution 216-214, with all Democrats opposed.
The measure would allow House committees to write legislation providing up to $60 billion in additional military spending and $13 billion for intelligence programs, with the remainder directed toward farmers and election-related priorities.
But the vote was only the first step in the reconciliation process. The Senate must approve the budget framework before committees can draft a final package, meaning the plan would not immediately replenish weapons used in the conflict.
For now, the pause has bought Trump time as diplomats search for a path to reopen the Strait of Hormuz without another round of attacks.
It has not resolved the fundamental dispute over control of the waterway, however, and Waltz stressed that the president remains prepared to order the military back into action.
“Let’s see how these conversations go,” he said.
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