{"id":102235,"date":"2026-05-07T12:03:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T12:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/102235\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T12:03:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T12:03:17","slug":"us-to-focus-on-evacuation-of-stranded-seafarers-in-strait-of-hormuz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/102235\/","title":{"rendered":"US to focus on evacuation of stranded seafarers in Strait of Hormuz"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered remarks on May 5, 2026, at the White House Press Briefing Room in Washington, D.C., stressing that a key goal of<a href=\"https:\/\/safety4sea.com\/windward-project-freedom-introduces-a-new-operational-layer-in-hormuz\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> \u201cProject Freedom\u201d<\/a> is to free more than 20,000 seafarers that are trapped due to the conflict.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to Rubio, the initiative is designed to assist in the evacuation and protection of approximately 23,000 civilians from 87 countries who are currently stranded in and around the Persian Gulf amid an escalating crisis. He described the situation as a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz carried out by Iran, which he accused of endangering commercial shipping, restricting movement, and escalating regional instability.<\/p>\n<p>Operation Project Freedom is a US military operation launched on 4 May 2026 to escort merchant ships, in response to Iranian attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. <a href=\"https:\/\/safety4sea.com\/iran-rolls-out-new-ship-transit-system-in-hormuz-as-trump-pauses-project-freedom\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The operation was temporarily paused on 5 May<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The operation, as described, is intended to restore freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global trade route. Rubio framed the intervention as both a humanitarian response and a strategic move, stating that the U.S. is prepared to use its military capabilities to support allies and counter what he called \u201crogue regimes,\u201d while prioritizing American national interests.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0For more than two months now, these innocent sailors and commercial crew members have been stranded out at sea because Iran is conducting something \u2013 and it\u2019s not just criminal \u2013 it\u2019s criminal for sure, but it\u2019s desperate and destructive, this blockade of the Strait of Hormuz<\/p>\n<p>\u2026 Rubio said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Rubio stated that for more than two months, civilian sailors and commercial crew members have been unable to safely exit the region, citing shortages of food, potable water, and essential supplies aboard stranded vessels. He further alleged that some ships had come under fire and that at least ten civilian sailors had died as a result of the situation.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re isolated, they\u2019re starving, they\u2019re vulnerable, and at least ten sailors have already died as a result of this \u2013 civilian sailors<\/p>\n<p>\u2026 he stressed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Characterizing the developments as \u201cpiracy\u201d and \u201ceconomic arson,\u201d Rubio said multiple countries had privately and publicly requested U.S. assistance to secure maritime routes and protect civilian lives. He emphasized that the United States, under President Trump\u2019s direction, would deploy military support to escort stranded vessels and establish a \u201cprotective bubble\u201d to guide them to safety.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered remarks on May 5, 2026, at the White House Press Briefing&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38963,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[28],"tags":[102,196,4135,101,256],"class_list":["post-102235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-strait-of-hormuz","tag-hormuz","tag-iran-war","tag-seafarers-rights","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116533199260700419","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}