US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, May 4, 2026. JACQUELYN MARTIN/AP
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called it a "gift to the world." Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, May 5, he described "Project Freedom," aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz, as a charitable US military effort to restore freedom of navigation, which the United States itself helped disrupt by launching the war in Iran on February 28.
Yet, barely 48 hours after Donald Trump announced the operation, which the White House also described as "humanitarian," it was put on hold. Given the "tremendous military success" and the "great progress has been made toward a complete and final agreement," "Project Freedom (...) will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed," the US president wrote Tuesday evening on Truth Social. The Strait of Hormuz, a strategic maritime passage through which nearly a quarter of the world's hydrocarbon production transits, has been effectively closed since late February. In response to this paralysis, maintained by Iranian strikes targeting so-called "enemy" vessels, the United States imposed a blockade on Iranian ports in mid-April.
