Trump threatens to ‘blow Iran off face of the Earth’ after shots fired at ships after declaring ‘Project Freedom’ to end stranglehold on Strait

Donald Trump’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz yesterday risks reigniting the war in the Middle East.

The US President warned Tehran would be ‘off the ground’ if it targeted American ships in the Gulf, after confirming that Iran had ‘fired’ on ships.

Air raid sirens sounded in the region for the first time since the uneasy ceasefire came into effect last month, as the mullahs launched a series of missile and drone attacks on the UAE.

While Iran’s 15 missiles were stopped, unmanned aerial vehicles attacked the country’s oil fields once again by hitting an empty crude oil tanker in the Bosphorus, causing the barrel price of crude oil to rise up to 85 pounds.

‘Project Freedom’, as the White House calls it, has brought about a day of claims and counter-claims.

The US said it successfully escorted two ships through the vital waterway, which Tehran called a ‘lie’.

Iran had previously announced that it had fired missiles at US destroyers, but Washington denied this claim. Some 2,000 ships along with nearly 20,000 crew members are stranded in the waterway, and the Islamic Republic has vowed to maintain the blockade with ‘full force’.

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said: ‘The events in Hormuz make clear that there is no military solution to the political crisis.’

The US claimed it had successfully escorted two ships across the Strait – a claim Iran later called a “lie” (The ships are seen anchored south of Iran on Monday)

He added: ‘Project Freedom is Project Lockdown.’

Mr. Trump urged South Korea to join his project after saying in a social media post that one of the country’s ships was shot down by Iran.

He wrote: ‘Iran has made some attacks on unrelated countries in connection with the Project Freedom ship movement, including a South Korean cargo ship.

‘Maybe it’s time for South Korea to come in and join the mission! We shot down seven small boats, or “fast” boats as they called them. That’s all that’s left.’

He added: ‘There is no damage at the moment except for the South Korean ship passing through the Bosphorus.’

Mr. Trump said Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine will hold a news conference on Tuesday.

Iran’s attack on the UAE tanker contradicted the President’s claim that ‘no damage came from the Bosphorus’ except for the South Korean ship.

Iran’s major general Ali Abdullahi insisted that Tehran ‘protects and strongly manages the security of the Strait of Hormuz with full force’.

A senior UAE official said the threats “cannot be ignored” and told ships to “avoid any passage” without Iran’s permission.

However, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News that his country had ‘absolute control’ over the Bosphorus.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said ‘guided missile destroyers’ passed through the waterway and two US-flagged commercial ships were diverted as a ‘first step’.

Iran previously claimed it had hit a US warship and turned it back, later saying it had only fired “warning shots” after Washington flatly denied its own navy had been hit.

Rejecting CENTCOM’s statement, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said: ‘No commercial ships or oil tankers have passed through the Strait of Hormuz in the last few hours, and the claims of American officials are baseless and completely false.’

Oil prices fell on Sunday when Mr Trump announced Project Freedom to move ships ‘safely’ out of the Bosphorus, but yesterday’s strikes caused prices to rise again by 2 per cent. Shipping bosses said the situation remained too unclear and complained about a lack of detail on how the US plan would work in practice.

German Hapag-Lloyd company said last night that its risk assessments “remain unchanged” and that the Bosphorus “will remain closed to Hapag-Lloyd passages until further notice.”

The Freedom Project is the latest attempt to gain influence among hardline leaders in Tehran who are feeling increasingly optimistic about the course of the war.

Iran is currently pressuring the United States to postpone negotiations on its nuclear ambitions in exchange for opening the waterway, which would amount to a capitulation for America. Mr Trump has signaled he will reject the proposal and the Islamic Republic was reviewing a 14-point response from the US yesterday.

However, the regime mocked Washington, saying the Revolutionary Guard’s intelligence unit said ‘the US’s decision-making space has narrowed’.

It was stated that Mr. Trump must choose between ‘an impossible military operation or a bad deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran’.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said ‘the priority is to end the war’ but blamed the US for the lack of progress. He added: ‘The other party must take a reasonable approach.’

Mr Trump, who has vowed to “wipe Iran off the face of the earth” if it attacks US ships operating Project Freedom, told Fox News he believed Tehran had become much more malleable in negotiations.

He said: ‘We have a lot more weapons and ammunition than we had before. We have the best equipment. We have supplies all over the world… we have bases all over the world. We can use all of these, and we will if we need them.’

The US also claimed to have sunk six Iranian small boats near the Strait of Hormuz.

CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper said Iran typically deployed ’20 to 40 small boats’ when harassing ships.

‘We only saw six today and we quickly eliminated them,’ he added.