On Memorial Day, while Donald Trump posted that negotiations with Iran were “proceeding nicely,” U.S. Central Command was conducting airstrikes on Iranian territory. The contradiction was not incidental. It is the operating condition of the current ceasefire — a state of managed belligerence in which neither side has agreed on what stopping the war actually means.

CENTCOM spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins confirmed Monday that U.S. forces struck missile launch sites and Iranian boats in southern Iran that were, per the statement, “attempting to emplace mines.” The justification was self-defense. The framing was restraint. The reality is that strikes under a nominally active ceasefire have become routine enough that the announcement generated less alarm than the diplomatic commentary surrounding it.

U.S. Central Command released footage on May 8 documenting the interdiction of two Iranian-flagged tankers, the Sea Star III and the Sevda, as they attempted to breach the U.S. naval blockade and enter an Iranian port. A Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet operating from the USS George H.W. Bush struck both vessels’ smokestacks with precision munitions, disabling them before they could reach their destination. CENTCOM confirmed neither tanker continued its transit toward Iran.

Three U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers — the USS Truxtun, USS Rafael Peralta, and USS Mason — transited the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday under fire from Iranian missiles, drones, and small boats, and exited into the Gulf of Oman without damage. The U.S. military struck Iranian launch sites, command nodes, and surveillance infrastructure in response. Both sides claim the other fired first. The ceasefire, now in its second month, was declared still in effect by President Trump, who described the exchange as “just a love tap.”