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Trump Launches 'Project Freedom' to Escort Ships Out of Hormuz
(MENAFN) US President Donald Trump announced Sunday that American forces will begin escorting vessels out of the congested and conflict-shadowed Strait of Hormuz starting Monday morning, Middle East time — framing the operation as a humanitarian mission for neutral nations caught in a war they have no part in.
Branding the initiative "Project Freedom," Trump declared it "a humanitarian gesture" in a post on Truth Social, casting the US role as that of a neutral guarantor of maritime passage for countries he described as entirely uninvolved in the region's escalating hostilities.
"Countries from all over the World, almost all of which are not involved in the Middle Eastern dispute going on so visibly, and violently, for all to see, have asked the United States if we could help free up their Ships, which are locked up in the Strait of Hormuz, on something which they have absolutely nothing to do with -- They are merely neutral and innocent bystanders!" Trump said on Truth Social.
"For 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," he said.
Trump further raised the humanitarian stakes, warning that many stranded vessels are running critically low on food and other essential supplies needed to sustain large crews in safe and sanitary conditions. He issued a pointed warning to any party that might attempt to obstruct the operation, cautioning that if "this Humanitarian process is interfered with, that interference will, unfortunately, have to be dealt with forcefully."
The announcement lands amid a charged diplomatic backdrop. Iran confirmed Sunday it has received and is reviewing Washington's response to its 14-point peace proposal — though Trump said Saturday he "can't imagine that it (the plan) would be acceptable."
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei, speaking to a state-run broadcaster, pushed back on any suggestion that nuclear issues were embedded in the proposal, stressing that Iran's plan is exclusively focused on ending the war, and "nothing pertaining to the nuclear field's details exists in it."
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