It's looking like the White House does not wish to given up just yet on the ceasefire, given this afternoon President Trump referenced the conflict as a "mini-war" - as opposed to a full blown war - in what seemed like an effort to downplay today's dramatic events. Not only did missiles rain down on the UAE, sparking a fire at a key oil facility, but the US Navy said it destroyed seven Iranian military boats. Here's what Trump said.

"They did a poll on the war with Iran, and they said only 32% of the people like it," Trump said, without specifying who conducted the poll. "Well, I don't like it, I don't like war at all."

"We're in, I call it a mini-war," Trump added a few moments later.

Trump has previously said he's been advised to not call it a war. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said last week that the U.S. is currently "not at war."

Meanwhile, more details via CENTCOM on the earlier flare-up, which separately saw the UAE engage 12 ballistic missiles, 3 cruise missiles, and 4 drones on Monday:

US Central Command (Centcom) says it has used helicopters to destroy Iranian small boats.

It follows US President Donald Trump's suggestion that the US has struck seven Iranian small boats as it works to open the Strait of Hormuz. "Earlier today, Sea Hawk and U.S. Army AH-64 Apache helicopters were used to eliminate Iranian small boats threatening commercial shipping", Centcom writes in a social media update.

Ceasefire Broken? Israel Awaiting US Greenlight, Trump Downplays
There remain lingering questions over whether the US-Iran ceasefire has definitively broken down with today's Iranian attack on the UAE, as well as tit-for-tat hostilities in the Persian Gulf area. This as Israeli media says the Netanyahu government is awaiting a 'green light' to attack Iran again. Also the UAE is now planning a 'severe retaliatory response' and 'harsh revenge' against Tehran, per MS Now.

Yet strangely, the latest statement out of CENTCOM doesn't touch on the question of a broken ceasefire, and President Trump himself has been silent on the matter, per the AP:

Cooper declined to say whether the exchange of hostilities between U.S. and Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz today amounted to an end to the ceasefire agreement. Cooper told reporters in a phone call this afternoon that Iran "initiated aggressive behavior" in the strait, according to a readout of the call provided by The Associated Press. "What we saw this morning was Iran initiating aggressive behaviors," Cooper said. "We are simply going to respond to that."