A newly launched U.S. effort to escort commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz is now on hold, President Donald Trump said Tuesday.
The president announced in a social media post that the escorts will be “paused for a short period” while the U.S. and its allies pursue an agreement to end the war with Iran.
His post came just days after the president announced the escorts and only hours after Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth talked up the military mission during separate remarks to the press.
Trump’s abrupt announcement putting a hold on “Project Freedom” is the latest example of the president swiftly undercutting high-ranking surrogates with a social media post.
Trump announced on Sunday that the American forces would help ships belonging to neutral countries by providing escorts through the strait to protect them from hostile fire while the U.S. maintained a blockade of Iranian ports.
Iran has demanded that the blockade be lifted before it negotiates an end to its nuclear program.
The president did not clarify what the development meant for U.S. Navy operations in the region, and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Pentagon deferred comment to CENTCOM, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hours earlier, Rubio told reporters at a press conference that Trump had “stepped up and answered the calls for their help” from U.S. allies to rescue as many as 23,000 civilians from 87 different countries trapped in the waterway.
Trump said the decision had been made based on a request from Pakistan — a key mediator in peace talks between the parties — and other countries.
Hegseth said at a Tuesday morning press conference that Project Freedom was “defensive in nature, focused in scope and temporary in duration.” He insisted that the fight over the chokepoint is distinct from the military’s goals in Epic Fury, its broader operation in Iran.
The U.S. agreed to a temporary ceasefire with Iran last month, but the agreement has not meant a total pause of hostilities: Iran has fired on commercial vessels nine times and engaged with U.S. forces more than 10 times, in addition to seizing two container ships, Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine said. The U.S. also attacked six small Iranian boats on Monday after Tehran targeted Navy ships, according to U.S. Central Command head Adm. Bradley Cooper.
But Caine said Iran’s willingness to fire on ships did not constitute a resumption of hostilities and fell “below the threshold of restarting major combat operations.”
Trump notified Congress last week that the war had been “terminated” as the White House faced down a 60-day legal deadline to seek congressional authorization for military force, and Hegseth testified to lawmakers that the administration believed the ceasefire paused the clock on that deadline.
