The president said he paused the operation to give an opportunity to see if a final agreement could be reached with Iran.
President Donald Trump announced that he was pausing Project Freedom, the mission of assisting commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, in a Truth Social post on Tuesday evening.
Although the U.S. blockade against Iranian ports will remain in effect, Trump said there has been great military success and progress toward a final agreement with Iran.
“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,” Trump wrote in his post.
The latest development in the war against Iran comes at the request of Pakistan and other countries, Trump added.
Earlier Tuesday, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said it was actively engaged with missile and drone strikes from Iran. It was the second day of Iranian attacks against the country.
On Monday, the Gulf nation reported that it had intercepted more than a dozen missile and drone attacks from Iran, and only hours before that, the UAE also said an oil-producing port facility was attacked.
The UAE’s air defense systems “are currently dealing with missile and drone attacks originating from Iran,” the country’s Ministry of Defense wrote in a post on X about the attacks.
“Sounds heard in scattered areas of the country are the result of the UAE’s air defense systems intercepting ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones,” it added.
The Gulf country’s Tuesday announcement came the same day U.S. War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the ceasefire with Iran is not over despite Tehran’s series of attacks in recent days. But Hegseth also warned Iran that it could still be met with an “overwhelming and devastating” force from the United States.
“We prefer this to be a peaceful operation, but are locked and loaded to defend our people, our ships, our aircraft, and this mission,” Hegseth said in a press conference.
The war secretary said Iran’s actions in the Persian Gulf were below the threshold of “major combat operations.”
“Since the ceasefire was announced, Iran has fired at commercial vessels nine times and seized two container ships, and they’ve attacked U.S. forces more than 10 times—all below the threshold of restarting major combat operations at this point,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine added at the May 5 press conference.
Before Trump announced the pausing of Project Freedom on Tuesday evening, Hegseth touted the operation’s success, saying that two U.S. commercial ships, escorted by two American destroyers, had already safely navigated the Strait of Hormuz.
“We know the Iranians are embarrassed by this fact,” Hegseth said. “They said they control the strait. They do not.”
By Troy Myers
