In a sudden announcement Tuesday evening, former President Donald Trump disclosed that the United States will suspend its recently launched operation to escort stranded commercial vessels through the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz for a temporary period. Codenamed Project Freedom, the maritime security initiative launched just days earlier will be halted by mutual agreement between Washington and Tehran, Trump said, citing significant headway toward a new negotiated agreement with Iran.
Iranian state media has framed the pause as a clear strategic victory for Tehran, framing the decision as a forced retreat for Trump following repeated failures to force the Strait of Hormuz, a vital chokepoint for global energy supplies, to reopen unilaterally. The announcement came concurrently with a statement from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirming that Operation Epic Fury, the opening joint US-Israeli air offensive against Iran launched in late February, has concluded after meeting all its stated military objectives.
Trump took to social media to clarify that the decision to pause Project Freedom came at the request of Pakistan, which has served as a neutral diplomatic intermediary between Washington and Tehran throughout the recent escalation. He emphasized that the existing US economic and naval blockade of Iranian ports will remain in place, keeping the core pressure campaign against Iran intact.
The sudden reversal caught many observers off guard, as it directly contradicted messaging from top US administration officials just 24 hours earlier. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, and Rubio himself had all publicly pledged just one day prior that Project Freedom would continue until full freedom of navigation was restored to both the Strait of Hormuz and the broader Persian Gulf. Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Rubio acknowledged the administration’s preference for a diplomatic settlement, noting “We would prefer the path of peace. What the president would prefer is a deal.”
The future trajectory of the standoff remains deeply uncertain. The Trump administration has repeatedly stressed that Project Freedom was a separate, independent initiative from the ongoing port blockade, which is designed to squeeze Iran’s economy into making concessions. The core goal of Project Freedom was to guide dozens of stranded commercial vessels out of the Persian Gulf and reopen the waterway to regular global trade, a move intended to ease pressure on energy markets and stabilize the global economy. If the temporary pause sees shipping companies and their maritime insurers continue to face interference from Iranian authorities, Trump will struggle to claim the operation achieved its core goals. On the other hand, administration insiders have suggested that pausing the initiative — which Tehran strongly condemned as a violation of its territorial sovereignty — could be a confidence-building measure to lure Iranian negotiators back to the bargaining table.
Rubio’s Tuesday statement followed a sharp uptick in tit-for-tat clashes that had stoked widespread fears that the months-long US-Iran ceasefire was on the brink of collapse. On Monday, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) reported that its air defense systems had intercepted Iranian missiles and drones for the second consecutive day, including an alleged strike on an oil export terminal in the Emirate of Fujairah, located just outside the Strait of Hormuz. The UAE called the incident a “dangerous escalation” of regional tensions. Iran issued a flat denial of any involvement in attacks on the UAE Tuesday, with a military spokesperson stating “If such an action had been taken, we would have announced it firmly and clearly.”
Late Tuesday, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency confirmed that a verified source had reported a commercial cargo vessel was hit by an “unknown projectile” in the Strait of Hormuz. No additional details on the vessel, crew, or extent of damage were immediately released.
The current crisis traces back to February 28, when the US and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury, a large-scale wave of air strikes across Iranian military and infrastructure targets. In direct response, Tehran blocked all commercial transit through the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s daily oil and liquefied natural gas supplies pass. A ceasefire was brokered between the two sides in early April, under which Iran agreed to halt all drone and missile strikes on Gulf Arab states including the UAE. Despite the ceasefire agreement, very few commercial vessels have been able to transit the strait in the months since, and the US maintained its own naval blockade of Iranian ports in parallel.
Clashes flared again just one day before Trump’s announcement. The US said it had destroyed seven Iranian fast attack craft operating in the strait, while Iran claimed it had fired warning shots at a US naval vessel. Both sides rejected the other’s claims. Two separate commercial vessels reported coming under attack Monday, while one confirmed it had successfully exited the strait under US military escort as part of Project Freedom.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Rubio warned that Iran had so far rejected the path of negotiation, adding “What that may lead to in the future is speculative.” He claimed the joint US-Israeli air strikes had inflicted “generational destruction to their [Iran’s] economy” and urged Iranian leaders to “check themselves before they wreck themselves in the direction that they’re going.”
For his part, Hegseth stressed that the existing ceasefire with Iran remains in effect, telling reporters “Right now the ceasefire certainly holds, but we’re going to be watching very, very closely.” Gen. Caine added that while Iran had carried out 10 separate attacks on US forces since the ceasefire went into effect, all had been “below the threshold” required to resume full-scale hostilities “at this point.”
When asked by reporters what actions by Iran would constitute a ceasefire breach, Trump simply replied “You’ll find out because I’ll let you know.” The president reaffirmed his belief that a negotiated settlement to end the standoff is still achievable.
The conflicting messaging from senior US administration officials points to a broader reluctance within Washington to resume large-scale military operations, a move that would roil already fragile global energy markets, send oil prices skyrocketing, and face strong opposition from a large majority of the American public. Trump also confirmed that he is currently consulting with Japanese leaders on the strait reopening and expects to hold a constructive discussion on the issue with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his upcoming visit to China next week.
Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf, who also served as Tehran’s lead negotiator in last month’s US-Iran talks, struck a defiant tone in comments earlier Tuesday. “We know well that the continuation of the status quo is intolerable for America, while we are just getting started,” Ghalibaf said. He blamed the United States and its allies for undermining shipping and energy security through ceasefire violations and the ongoing blockade, adding “However, their evil acts will fail.”
