The US operation to escort stranded ships through the Strait of Hormuz will be suspended for a “brief period of time,” President Donald Trump announced Tuesday night.
Trump declared that Project Freedom, started a day earlier, would be stopped by “mutual agreement,” given that “great progress” had been made toward a deal with Iran.
Iranian state media called it a victory, saying the pause showed Trump had “regressed” after his “continued failures” in trying to reopen the must-dangle waterway for global shipping.
The US president’s announcement came at the same time that Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the initial joint offensive between the United States and Israel against Iran – “Operation Epic Fury” – had concluded after having achieved its objectives.
In a social media post, Trump claimed to have made the decision “at the request of Pakistan,” a country that has acted as an intermediary between the US and Iran. He also added that the US blockade of Iranian ports would remain in force.
Trump’s announcement could surprise some, as it undermines the message spread throughout this Tuesday by Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine; All of them had promised that the operation would guarantee freedom of navigation and trade in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf.
“We would prefer the path of peace. What the president [Donald Trump] “I would prefer is an agreement,” Rubio told reporters this Tuesday.
What may happen next is uncertain. The administration had insisted that Project Freedom constituted a campaign “independent and distinct” from the blockade, whose purpose is to exert economic pressure on Iran.
“A resolve on the world”
Project Freedom aimed to help restore the flow of oil from the region and the eventual return of the global economy to normal, by guiding stranded ships out of the Gulf through the waterway, which was virtually closed.
However, if during this “pause” global shipping companies – and the insurance companies that work with them – are hampered by Iranian interference, it will be difficult for Trump to claim that this objective has been met.
On the other hand, the administration may be hoping that suspending Project Freedom—which the Iranians strenuously opposed—will help bring them back to the negotiating table.
For several days, Trump has threatened Iran with significant retaliation if it attacks American ships and on Sunday he announced Project Freedom to facilitate the passage of ships through Hormuz.
On Monday, Washington said it attacked seven Iranian speedboats in the strait, while Tehran said it fired warning shots at a US ship.
Both sides denied the other side’s claims.
Two commercial ships reported being attacked, and one of them reported successfully leaving the strait under US military escort, as part of Trump’s plan to unblock the sea lane that has now been suspended.
The various comments from US officials suggest that the US has little desire or appetite to resume large-scale operations, which would further disrupt markets, drive up prices and spark opposition from broad sectors of the US population.
Trump has also stated that he is talking to Japan about reopening the strait and hopes to have a positive conversation about it with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to China next week.
Does the end of Epic Fury really matter?
Marco Rubio made it clear that operation “Epic Fury” has ended. At least, officially, he’s right. The operation as the world knew it ended when the ceasefire with Iran was announced.
However, the question that many around the world will ask is: does the end of “Epic Fury” really matter?
When the ceasefire was announced, the conflict entered a new phase.
Instead of American artillery falling on Iranian targets, it is now focused on putting economic pressure on Iran, both through the blockade of its ports and through “Economic Fury” – the effort to isolate Tehran from global financial markets and institutions.
As we saw on Monday, that status quo It’s fragile. The large amount of military weaponry concentrated in the Strait of Hormuz means that shooting could begin at any time.
Rubio, Hegseth and others have made clear that military force remains on the table. And Trump said this weekend that attacks inside Iran are a “possibility” if that country “does something bad.”
*With information from Bernd Debusmann Jr., James Chaterand and Kathryn Armstrong.
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- What do we know about Project Freedom with which Trump wants to escort ships in the Strait of Hormuz?
