South Korean military officials say North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles into the sea Wednesday. The launches came after a top official in the North Korean regime warned that South Korea will always be the North’s “most hostile enemy state.”

The provocation comes as South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has sought to thaw a yearslong diplomatic freeze with the North. His efforts during recent months have failed to gain traction in Pyongyang.

The Pentagon’s Indo-Pacific Command said Tuesday the North Korean launches had not posed any immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory or to allies. American and South Korean military forces recently conducted annual springtime drills that sparked outrage in Pyongyang, which has long accused Seoul and Washington of practicing to invade the nuclear-armed North.

Mr. Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine told reporters at the Pentagon Wednesday morning that U.S. forces are ready to act quickly and are prepared to strike devastating blows against Iran if Tehran fails to uphold the terms of the two-week ceasefire.

The Pentagon is closely monitoring Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium and U.S. forces could launch an operation to secure it if Tehran isn’t prepared to give it up, Mr. Hegseth said. The defense secretary said the U.S. has already accomplished its three main military goals: the destruction of Iran’s stockpiles of missiles and drones, the destruction of its navy and the shattering of its defense industrial base.

Mr. Hegseth did not mention securing Iran’s nuclear material or reopening the Strait of Hormuz among the military objectives. Under the two-week ceasefire, Iran will allow for safe passage through the strait while negotiations are held. The Iranian military will reportedly oversee the strait during this period.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, a chief critic of the U.S. war on Iran, welcomed Mr. Trump’s ceasefire with Tehran on Wednesday but sought to ridicule the U.S. president by saying he put out his own fire.

Mr. Sanchez has openly blamed Mr. Trump for the war. In public rhetoric, the Spanish prime minister and several other European leaders have ignored the Iranian regime’s backing of terrorist proxy militias such as Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis — let alone Tehran’s decades-long nuclear activities carried out in defiance of repeated U.N. Security Council resolutions.

The Sanchez government has refused to let the U.S. use joint air bases or its airspace for the war on Iran. “Ceasefires are always good news. Especially if they lead to a just and lasting peace. But this momentary relief cannot make us forget the chaos, the destruction, and the lives lost,” Mr. Sanchez wrote on X. “The Government of Spain will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket.”

Shortly after the declaration of the U.S-Iran ceasefire Tuesday night, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the release of American journalist Shelly Kittleson, who was recently kidnapped by members of the Tehran-backed foreign terrorist organization Kataib Hezbollah near Baghdad.

Mr. Rubio said the State Department is relieved that Ms. Kittleson is now free and the department is working to support her safe departure from Iraq. 

“Under President Trump, the wrongful detention or kidnapping of U.S. nationals will not be tolerated,” the secretary of state said. “We will continue to use every tool to bring Americans home and to hold accountable those responsible.”

Clifford D. May emphasizes the importance of “strategic clarity” from the White House about the conflict with Iran. He writes in a Washington Times column that Mr. Trump’s “rhetorical imprecision” has “handed the regime a propaganda gift” and “muddied the moral clarity that underlies his campaign.

“Who are America’s enemies today? … Certainly not the Iranian people,” writes Mr. May, an opinion contributor to Threat Status and the founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “Ample evidence suggests that most of them despise the clerical ruling class that has suppressed, imprisoned, tortured and murdered them by the tens of thousands.

“A victory in this conflict would be transformative,” writes Mr. May. “Historians would record, however grudgingly, that Mr. Trump had helped liberate what he has rightly called ‘the great, proud people of Iran.’ To achieve that outcome will require precision in strategy and tactics, as well as in language.”

• April 9 — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte: Remarks and Conversation, Ronald Reagan Institute

• April 9 — Same Engine, New Fuel? China’s Economic Model and the Artificial Intelligence Bet, Chatham House

• April 9 — New Evidence of China’s Forced Organ Harvesting and a Proposed U.S. Response, Hudson Institute

• April 13-16 — 41st Space Symposium for Government, Military and Industry Leadership, Space Foundation

• April 14 — Global Democracy under Pressure: Insights from Africa for a Changing World, Brookings Institution

• April 15 — Invisible Attacks: What’s Behind Havana Syndrome & Anomalous Health Incidents, Hayden Center