Fox News Host Says Trump Believes Iran Is 'Serious About Surrendering' After Hormuz Pause: 'He Must Know What He's Doing'

Fox News host Jesse Watters said Tuesday that President Donald Trump's decision to pause a U.S. naval operation in the Strait of Hormuz likely reflected confidence that Iran was prepared to make major concessions in negotiations aimed at ending the conflict between Washington and Tehran.

"The commander-in-chief must believe that the Iranians are serious about surrendering if he is going to pause Project Freedom for the sake of a deal," Watters said on Jesse Watters Primetime. "The president must know what he's doing."

Trump announced Tuesday evening that the United States would temporarily halt "Project Freedom," a military effort launched just one day earlier to escort commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the operation would pause for "a short period of time" while negotiations continued toward what he described as a "Complete and Final Agreement" with Iran.

Watters suggested the move was intended to allow Iran to "save face" after U.S. forces successfully escorted ships through the strategic waterway despite Iranian claims that it controlled the strait.

"The enemy just yesterday said they controlled the strait. That was obviously a lie," Watters said. "Watching the Americans escort ship after ship out of the gulf and them not being able to do anything about that was going to be humiliating."

Watters argued that the United States could have continued the operation during negotiations, suggesting Trump's decision to pause it indicated significant progress behind the scenes.

His comments came as reports emerged Wednesday that U.S. and Iranian negotiators are close to reaching a one-page memorandum of understanding that would formally end the fighting and establish a framework for broader talks on Iran's nuclear program and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian officials responded cautiously, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Bagaei telling the ISNA news agency that Tehran was "evaluating" the proposal and would communicate its position through Pakistani mediators once the review was complete.

Other Iranian figures were more skeptical. Lawmaker Ebrahim Rezaei described the memorandum as an "American wish list" and said Washington would "gain nothing in a lost war that it could not achieve in face-to-face negotiations."