By Kevin Liptak, Adam Cancryn, Zachary Cohen, CNN<\/p>\n
(CNN) \u2014 President Donald Trump\u2019s initiative to guide ships<\/a> through the Strait of Hormuz was a high-stakes, high-risk attempt to jolt loose a resolution to the standoff that had come to define his war against Iran.<\/p>\n But the gambit has put the US\u2019 fragile ceasefire with Iran<\/a> under strain, as US and Iranian forces traded fire in the contested waterway. Now, no one is entirely sure whether the tenuous peace can hold long enough for halting negotiations to yield some resolution.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is very bad and messy at the moment,\u201d a regional source told CNN.<\/p>\n With little sign Tehran would blink in its efforts to block traffic through the waterway, Trump had grown frustrated at the deadlock in the strait<\/a>. High gas prices and a looming visit to China both created pressure to find a way to get vessels moving.<\/p>\n So from his golf course in Florida on Sunday, Trump announced a plan for the US to help guide certain ships through the strait, dubbed \u201cProject Freedom.\u201d The risks soon became apparent. Booms reverberated in Dubai as Iranian missiles were intercepted for the first time since a truce went into effect nearly a month ago. The US military destroyed six Iranian small boats, US Central Command said. (A report by an Iranian state media outlet disputed that the boats had been sunk.)<\/p>\n The open-ended ceasefire appeared to be stretching to its limit, without clear evidence a negotiated settlement may be near. Speaking to CNN on Sunday, Trump\u2019s foreign envoy Steve Witkoff would only say of talks with Iran: \u201cWe\u2019re in conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n Some of Trump\u2019s allies have encouraged him to resume the bombing campaign inside Iran, arguing the US has already weakened the regime and insisting the time was ripe to further degrade its military capabilities.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope this conflict can end diplomatically, but it is now time to regain freedom of navigation and forcefully respond to Iran if they insist on terrorizing the world,\u201d GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham wrote on X this weekend.<\/p>\n Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who Israeli sources say is planning a trip to Washington to visit Trump in the near future, convened security meetings Monday. Officials signaled in Israeli media afterward that the country was prepared to resume a bombing campaign.<\/p>\n Despite the hostilities, it was not clear whether Trump had the appetite to resume full-scale bombing inside Iran. He shrugged off a damaged South Korean ship as from an \u201cunrelated Nation\u201d and claimed otherwise there had been \u201cno damage going through the Strait.\u201d He similarly told ABC News<\/a> of Iran\u2019s drone and missile attacks, \u201cOne got through. Not huge damage.\u201d<\/p>\n But he also warned in a phone interview with Fox News<\/a> that Iran would be \u201cblown off the face of the Earth\u201d if it targets US ships.<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t go into details of whether the ceasefire is over or not,\u201d Adm. Bradley Cooper, head of US Central Command, told reporters Monday. \u201cI think the key thing is, for us, is we\u2019re merely there as a defensive force and to give a very thick layer of defense to commercial shipping to allow them to proceed out of the (Persian Gulf).\u201d<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s highly anticipated visit to Beijing next week could also complicate his decision to resume the war with Iran. He initially delayed the trip from April while the conflict raged. China has called for reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, where much of the energy products it relies upon pass through.<\/p>\n Arriving in Beijing with the conflict at best unresolved \u2014 or at worst raging yet again \u2014 could place Trump in a weakened position<\/a> in his talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n Speaking to Fox News on Monday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent \u2014 who has been leading preliminary discussions with the Chinese ahead of Trump\u2019s visit \u2014 said the country could do more to convince Iran to allow ships to pass through the strait.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s see if China \u2013 let\u2019s see them step up with some diplomacy and get the Iranians to open the strait,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The origins of \u201cProject Freedom\u201d lie in meetings the president has held over the last several days exploring options for reopening the strait, through which 20% of the world\u2019s oil passes. Iran has resisted US demands to allow ships to pass through.<\/p>\n Trump received a 45-minute briefing from Cooper and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, last Thursday to discuss updated military plans for Iran, including on reopening the strait, a source familiar with the matter said.<\/p>\n