President Donald Trump has announced a naval mission called Project Freedom to help navigate stranded ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which remains under a de facto Iranian blockade, in a new development in the nine-month war between the US, Israel and Iran. The operation will start on Monday, the president said, and the US will help free ships stranded in the Gulf by the war.
Iran took control of the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies pass, days after the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28. Trump announced the mission after Iran said it had received a US response to its latest offer for peace talks, following the president’s description of Tehran’s proposal as “unacceptable”.
Tehran warns the US to stay out
Responding to Trump’s new naval operation, Iran’s military said on Monday: “Any foreign armed force, especially the aggressive US Army, will be attacked if they attempt to approach and enter the Strait of Hormuz.” A top Iranian lawmaker, Ebrahim Azizi, said any US interference in the strait would be considered a violation of the ceasefire.
The unified command of Iran’s armed forces responded by warning US forces to stay out of the strait. The warning sets up a direct confrontation between the US naval mission and Iran’s forces in the waterway, where maritime monitors have recorded at least 37 attacks on vessels during October, the highest monthly total since the war began, with another 10 attacks recorded so far in November.
A war in its ninth month
The conflict is now in its ninth month, and it has roiled global markets and disrupted oil and gas supplies, pushing up prices around the world. The US has evacuated 22 crew members held on board an Iranian container vessel to Pakistan and will hand them over to Iranian authorities on Monday, according to reports of the operation.
Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, said on Tuesday that Tehran was waiting for a response from the United States on its seven conditions for peace talks, and that the Strait of Hormuz would not reopen until those conditions were met. The conditions include lifting sanctions and the US naval blockade, and ending the fighting on all fronts. The US says the strait is open and that its blockade will only get tighter, while Iran says it stays shut — and Project Freedom is Trump’s answer to that standoff.
Related reading: Iran Awaits US Response on Tuesday as Hormuz Roadmap Takes Shape and Oil Prices Fall on Tuesday as Trump Plays Down Iran Escalation
