New Delhi: US President Donald Trump Tuesday paused Project Freedom, the US Navy operation to escort merchant vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, citing “great progress” towards a deal with Iran—barely 24 hours after the mission was launched.
“Based on the request of Pakistan and other Countries, the tremendous Military Success that we have had during the Campaign against the Country of Iran and, additionally, the fact that Great Progress has been made toward a Complete and Final Agreement with Representatives of Iran,” Trump said in a statement on social media.
He added: “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.”
Project Freedom was Washington’s latest move in the conflict, envisaging US Navy guided-missile destroyers shepherding merchant vessels through the global waterway, which Iran has effectively closed since the war began at the end of February. Two US-flagged ships transited safely Monday under the operation’s first run.
The same day, Iran fired 19 missiles and drones at the United Arab Emirates, raising fears of a collapse of the fragile ceasefire that has held since 8 April.
The pause coincides with a flurry of diplomatic activity. Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi is meeting Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing Wednesday, having travelled at China’s invitation. The visit comes roughly a week before Trump is due to travel to China for his own summit with President Xi Jinping.
Washington and Beijing have steadied ties over the past year, with Trump meeting Xi in the South Korean city of Busan late last year. The US has been pressing China to lean on Iran towards a settlement—pressure that, according to media reports, prompted Tehran’s acceptance of the ceasefire terms in early April.
Beijing remains Tehran’s most important economic partner. The Chinese government has safeguarded Chinese firms purchasing Iranian oil from US sanctions. China has also effectively shielded Iran itself from the worst impacts of American sanctions, allowing Tehran in part to weather its international isolation. Despite Washington’s escalating sanctions regime—including fresh measures against Chinese oil refineries in the past fortnight—Beijing has reportedly pushed its companies to ignore the curbs and keep trading with Iranian counterparts.
Trump’s announcement came hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the war was over and described Project Freedom as a humanitarian mission that would engage Iran militarily only if attacked first.
The administration’s insistence that hostilities have ended carries domestic weight. The 60-day window for the President to conduct an operation without Congressional approval expired last Friday, and the White House contends that the 8 April ceasefire concluded the conflict well within the War Powers Act limit.
The war was triggered by joint US-Israel strikes on Iran on the last day of February.
Attacks in the roughly 40-day war ended with a Pakistani-brokered ceasefire. Direct US-Iran negotiations followed in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad on 11 April. The talks produced no settlement, though the two sides came close to opening a second round. That round has not materialised, with Tehran insisting the US naval blockade on its ports be lifted first.
On Monday, Araghchi said Iran had briefed Pakistan on its current position in the peace negotiations. Even as the two sides move back and forth on peace, the Strait of Hormuz—through which a fifth of the world’s energy supplies pass—remains effectively shut, weighing on the global economy.
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