WASHINGTON — A day after the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire, the tentative truce showed early signs of strain amid continuing attacks across the region and reports that Iran moved to restrict traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

The developments tested President Trump’s ability to convert a fragile pause in fighting into a lasting peace deal with a country he has spent weeks threatening to destroy, and raised questions about whether the Trump administration had the diplomatic leverage to hold the deal.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the White House sought to project confidence at separate news briefings on Wednesday, and warned Iran to keep its end of the bargain or face the consequences.

Hegseth said the U.S. military plans to maintain a presence in the region to ensure Iranian compliance, saying American troops are ready to “go on offense and restart operations at a moment’s notice” if the truce broke down.

“We’ll be hanging around,” he said. “We are going to make sure Iran complies with this ceasefire and then ultimately comes to the table and makes a deal.”

The warning came as several Gulf nations reported Iranian missile and drone attacks on their territories despite the ceasefire being in effect. Kuwait said its air defenses intercepted drones, while Bahrain reported that an Iranian attack has sparked a fire at one of its facilities.

Hegseth downplayed the continued Iranian attacks in the region, saying that “it takes time sometimes” for ceasefires to take hold, but advised Iran to “find a way to get a carrier pigeon to their troops in remote locations” and ensure compliance moving forward.

Israel added to the regional turmoil on Wednesday, carrying out its largest strike against Hezbollah since the militant group began launching rockets in solidarity with Iran last month. Lebanese health authorities said hundreds were killed and wounded in the strikes.

Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have both maintained that Lebanon is not subject to the agreed upon terms to pause the hostilities.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who helped broker the ceasefire, wrote on X that violations to the ceasefire had been reported at “a few places across the conflict zone” and urged all parties to exercise restraint. Though he did not detail the violations, he said the attacks “undermine the spirit of the peace process.”

The regional instability appeared to push the Iranian Navy to restrict traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway whose opening was key in the ceasefire negotiations, according to Fars News, an Iranian news outlet aligned with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

“Any vessel trying to travel into the sea … will be targeted and destroyed,” the Navy told shipping vessels, according to the Fars News report.

At a press briefing Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was aware of the media reports that the Strait of Hormuz had been closed, a move that she called both “completely unacceptable” and “false.” She added that the president’s expectation is that the waterway will be “reopened immediately, quickly and safely.”

Hegseth told reporters earlier in the day that “commerce will flow” through the Strait of Hormuz with the ceasefire in effect. Leavitt, however, sidestepped questions about who currently has control over the oil route.

The situation in the Strait of Hormuz underscores how much remains uncertain about the agreement between the United States and Iran. The full terms of the ceasefire have not been publicly disclosed, and Trump wrote on Truth Social the “only group of meaningful ‘POINTS’ that are acceptable to the United States” will be discussed behind closed doors.

Trump also seemed to take issue with the 10-point peace plan that Iran publicly released on Wednesday. He said that there are terms being floated by people that have “absolutely nothing to do” with the negotiations between the United States and Iran. He said that “in many cases, they are total Fraudsters, Charlatans, and WORSE.”

Leavitt declined to offer details about the working proposal being negotiated, saying the talks will take place privately. Both Leavitt and Hegseth, however, mentioned that the United States wants to ensure Iran does not have stockpiles of enriched uranium, the fissile material that is key in developing nuclear weapons.

“This is on the top of the priority list for the president and his negotiating team as they head into the next round of discussions,” Leavitt said.

Hegseth told reporters earlier in the day that Iran may “hand it over.” If they don’t, Hegseth said: We will take it out, or if we have to do something else ourselves like we did [with] Midnight Hammer or something like that, we reserve that opportunity.”

Leavitt reiterated that administration officials “hope it will be through diplomacy,” but left open the possibility that it could be retrieved through ground operations.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., continued calling for President Donald Trump’s ouster on Tuesday even after the president announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran.

“This statement changes nothing,” she asserted in a post on X, referring to the president’s Tuesday evening ceasefire announcement. “Whether by his Cabinet or Congress, the President must be removed from office.”

Prior to the ceasefire announcement, Trump, who had been threatening to unleash a devastating attack against Iranian power plants and bridges, sent the following warning in a Tuesday morning Truth Social post: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?”

Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the progressive cadre of lawmakers known as “The Squad,” responded by declaring in a post on X, “This is a threat of genocide and merits removal from office. The President’s mental faculties are collapsing and cannot be trusted. To every individual in the President’s chain of command: You have a duty to refuse illegal orders. That includes carrying out this threat.”

But then on Tuesday night, Trump announced a two-week ceasefire.

TRUMP AGREES TO 2-WEEK CEASEFIRE IF IRAN OPENS STRAIT OF HORMUZ

“Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks. This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE!” the president wrote in part of a Truth Social post. “Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two week period will allow the Agreement to be finalized and consummated.”

Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Seyed Abbas Araghchi said in part of a statement, “If attacks against Iran are halted, our Powerful Armed Forces will cease their defensive operations. For a period of two weeks, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible via coordination with Iran’s Armed Forces and with due consideration of technical limitations.”

But even in light of Trump’s ceasefire announcement, Ocasio-Cortez asserted that the president’s “statement changes nothing.”

“The President has threatened a genocide against the Iranian people, and is continuing to leverage that threat. He has launched a massive war of enormous risk and of catastrophic consequence without reason, rationale, nor Congressional authorization – which is as clear a violation of the Constitution as any. Each day this goes on, the risk and criminality of these actions escalate for our nation and the world,” she wrote in the post on X.

EX-TRUMP ALLY MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE JOINS LEFT-WING CALLS FOR THE 25TH AMENDMENT AS IRAN DEADLINE NEARS

“Moreover, this administration’s self enrichment, insider trading, and pure corruption off this chaos – from crypto currencies to predictive trading markets to bribe ‘settlements’ – has placed the Trump administration’s pursuit of personal wealth squarely against the wellbeing of our nation and its people. All of these incidents, and plenty more, have clearly driven our country past the threshold for impeachment or invocation of the 25th amendment,” she continued.

“We cannot risk the world nor the wellbeing of our nation any longer. None of these considerations should be partisan, but shared in good faith by Americans of all backgrounds who care for the safety and stability of the United States. Whether by his Cabinet or Congress, the President must be removed from office. We are playing with the brink,” she wrote.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment early on Wednesday.