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US president says any interference with operation, which will start on Monday, will ‘have to be dealt with forcefully’.

President Donald Trump has said that the United States will “free up” ships stuck in the Strait of Hormuz starting on Monday, suggesting that his administration will break the Iranian blockade on the strategic waterway.

Trump’s said on Sunday that the push – dubbed Project Freedom – would be a “humanitarian gesture”, warning Iran against interfering with the operation. The move risks shattering the fragile ceasefire that came into effect in April.

“Many of these Ships are running low on food, and everything else necessary for largescale crews to stay on board in a healthy and sanitary manner,” the US president wrote in a social media post.

“I think it would go a long way in showing Goodwill on behalf of all of those who have been fighting so strenuously over the last number of months. If, in any way, this Humanitarian process is interfered with, that interference will, unfortunately, have to be dealt with forcefully.”

Trump said he told his representatives to inform Iranian officials that the US will “use best efforts to get their Ships and Crews safely out of the Strait”.

The US military has previously said that it is “not ready” to accompany vessels through the strait.

Although the truce has held for more than three weeks, Tehran’s blockade in Hormuz and Washington’s naval siege on Iranian ports have sent oil prices soaring.

In the US, petrol has risen $4.44 per gallon, up from less than $3 before the war started, fueling inflation. Energy costs are driving increasing public discontent with the war as Trump’s job approval ratings plummet, according to recent pubic opinion polls.

Trump had previously suggested that he is comfortable with the status quo of the competing blockades in the Gulf, arguing that the US siege “more effective than bombing”.

More to come…