The United States said it will begin on 4 May an operation to free merchant vessels stranded following Iran\u2019s closure of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which has been disrupted since the start of the conflict.<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump described the effort, named \u201cProject Freedom,\u201d as a humanitarian initiative, warning that any interference would be met with force. In a post on Truth Social, he said countries around the world had requested US assistance, referring to the affected vessels as neutral and innocent bystanders<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the good of Iran, the Middle East, and the United States, we have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways, so that they can freely and ably get on with their business,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the operation would involve around 15,000 US service members, guided-missile destroyers and more than 100 aircraft, while the blockade of Iranian ports would remain in place.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur support for this defensive mission is essential to regional security and the global economy as we also maintain the naval blockade,\u201d said Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander.<\/p>\n
The development comes amid a temporary ceasefire between the two sides, which began on 8 April, as efforts continue toward a more permanent peace agreement.<\/p>\n
However, Iran\u2019s military has warned the United States against entering the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
Following Trump\u2019s announcement, Iranian forces said US military assets would be targeted if they enter the area. Ali Abdollahi, head of Iran\u2019s unified military command, also stated that commercial vessels and oil tankers should avoid transit unless coordinated with Iranian authorities.<\/p>\n
According to the latest update, Iran\u2019s foreign ministry says it is ready to respond to US threats in the strait.<\/p>\n
In a statement shared by Mehr news agency, spokesperson Esmail Baghaie says Iran remains the strait\u2019s \u201cguardian and protector\u201d. He adds: \u201cShips and shipping companies well know that ensuring their security requires coordination with the competent authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baghaie says there\u2019s no reason for countries who follow the rule of law to follow \u201cillegal actions\u201d by the US.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United States said it will begin on 4 May an operation to free merchant vessels stranded following…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[102,196,4048,101,2435,256],"class_list":{"0":"post-96852","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-strait-of-hormuz","8":"tag-hormuz","9":"tag-iran-war","10":"tag-maritime-traffic","11":"tag-strait-of-hormuz","12":"tag-trends","13":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116515622465286678","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96852","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=96852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}