DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,
US president says ‘Project Freedom’ paused to see whether an agreement with Iran can be finalised and signed.
United States President Donald Trump has said that the US military operation to move stranded ships out of the Strait of Hormuz has been paused temporarily.
Trump made the announcement on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday.
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He said the decision was made “based on the request” of Pakistan and other countries and the “fact that Great Progress has been made toward a Complete and Final Agreement” with representatives of Iran.
“We have mutually agreed that, while the Blockade will remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom (The Movement of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz) will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed,” he wrote.
There was no immediate comment from Iran.
Trump’s announcement came as tensions escalate in the Gulf, with the US military saying it had destroyed several Iranian boats as well as cruise missiles and drones. The United Arab Emirates said its air defences dealt with missile and drone attacks from Iran for a second day while another commercial ship in the Strait of Hormuz reported being hit by an “unknown projectile”.
For its part, Iran said it has introduced a new mechanism for ships that want to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Under the system, vessels will receive an email from an address linked to the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, informing them of the latest transit regulations.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also issued a new map of the Strait of Hormuz with an expanded area of Iranian control and warned vessels on Tuesday to stick to the corridors it had set or face a “decisive response”.
In Washington, DC, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters the US has completed its offensive operations against Iran, dubbed “Operation Epic Fury”, and “there’s no shooting unless we’re shot at first”.
But he said Iran must pay a price for its efforts to control the Strait of Hormuz.
“The Straits of Hormuz do not belong to Iran. They don’t have a right to shut it down and blow up ships and lay mines,” Rubio said.
“Under no circumstances can we live in a world where we accept, okay, this is normal. You have to coordinate with Iran. You have to pay them a toll in order to go through the Straits of Hormuz. Not only is that unacceptable in the Straits, you’re creating a precedent that could be repeated in multiple other places around the world.”
The maritime chokepoint – through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s energy supplies transit – has been effectively closed by Iran since the US and Israel launched a war on the country on February 28. Following a ceasefire in April, the US imposed its own blockade in a bid to prevent ships fromentering and exiting Iranian ports.
The closure of the strait has disrupted global trade, causing oil and fertiliser prices to soar and prompting fears of a global recession and a food emergency.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump told reporters that the US’s military and economic action was forcing Iran to the negotiating table despite its public defiance.
“Iran wants to make a deal. What I don’t like about Iran is they’ll talk to me with such great respect, and then they’ll go on television. They’ll say, we did not speak to the president,” he said. “So they play games. But let me just tell you, they want to make a deal. And who wouldn’t? When your military is totally gone, we could do anything we want to them.”
The US Secretary for Defence Pete Hegseth meanwhile insisted that the renewed violence in the Strait of Hormuz does not constitute a ceasefire breach.
“American forces won’t need to enter Iranian waters. It’s not necessary. We’re not looking for a fight. But Iran cannot be allowed to block innocent countries and their goods from international waterways,” he said.
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