WASHINGTON — President Trump suspended a plan to have the military escort commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz after Saudi Arabian officials warned Riyadh would not allow the US to use its airspace or air bases to support the initiative.
“Project Freedom,” which the president announced Sunday evening, was paused Tuesday following pushback from the Gulf nation — as well as a phone conversation between Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that did not resolve the issue, NBC News reported.
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The military operation had been intended to stop Iran from blocking the vital waterway, through which at least one-fifth of the world’s seaborne oil passes.
Trump said in a Tuesday post on his Truth Social that he delayed Project Freedom at “the request of Pakistan and other Countries,” and due to “the fact that Great Progress has been made toward a Complete and Final Agreement with Representatives of Iran.”
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A US-imposed naval blockade on sanctioned vessels seeking to exit or enter the strait remains “in full force and effect,” the president also said.
A Gulf source familiar with the US-Iran negotiations previously told The Post that the “cease-fire is still intact, but its stability is limited and dependent on continued restraint from both sides.”
Iran has launched at least 10 attacks on US forces since the start of the April 8 cease-fire, in addition to strikes on Persian Gulf neighbors, according to Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Small skirmishes between American warships and Iranian boats still occurred Monday — with six small vessels from Tehran’s regime sunk.
“You know, they fired them in little boats with pea shooters. You know, peas shooters, little boats,” Trump said of the clash. “You know why? Because they don’t have any boats anymore. Their navy is comprised of, they call them, little boats.”
Just around 11 ships have transited the waterway in the past 24 hours, per hormuzstraitmonitor.com, down to less than 20% of pre-conflict levels.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also noted that nearly “23,000 civilians from 87 different countries” have been “trapped inside the Gulf, and left for dead in the Persian Gulf by this Iranian regime,” since the start of US-Israeli military strikes against Tehran on Feb. 28.
