Iran live updates: US blockade of Iran's Strait of Hormuz ports to begin Monday

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters that the Strait of Hormuz has reopened.

"The strait is open," Hegseth said.

Hegseth said ships "will be sailing" through Hormuz.

"It's time for the rest of the world to step up and ensure that that stays open, after President Trump and the War Department brought Iran to the place where they are voluntarily opening it right now, as was announced last night," Hegseth said.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said the U.S. is monitoring Iran's enriched uranium and that it being handed over is a "non-negotiable" for the U.S.

"We know exactly what they have, and they know that, and they will either give it to us, which the president has laid out, will give it to us voluntarily ... or if we have to do something else ourselves, like we did in Midnight Hammer or something like that, we reserve that opportunity," Hegseth said.

"What the new Iranian regime knows is they'll never have a nuclear weapon or the capability to get a path to one," Hegseth said.

Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, welcomed the ceasefire agreement but said the U.S. remains ready to continue combat operations "if called upon."

Caine honored the lives of the 13 service members killed in the operation before outlining U.S. achievements in Iran.

When ordering the beginning of the strikes, President Donald Trump set "three distinct military objectives: destroy ballistic missile and drawing drone capabilities, destroy the Iranian Navy and destroy their defense industrial base to ensure that Iran can reconstitute the ability to project power outside their borders."

Caine said the U.S. achieved the objectives.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth claimed the U.S. reached a "decisive military victory" in Iran under President Donald Trump at a press conference Wednesday.

"Iran begged for this ceasefire, and we all know it," Hegseth said.