Trump announces pause on breaking Iran’s blockade of Strait of Hormuz as he signals hope for ‘complete and final agreement’

President Donald Trump announced that the United States will pause its plan to escort foreign ships, called Project Freedom, out of the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump said he decided to pause the Freedom Project due to requests from Pakistan and other countries, as well as progress on the deal with Iran.

A post on Truth Social said: ‘Based on the request of Pakistan and other Countries, the tremendous Military Success we have achieved during the Operation Against the Land of Iran, as well as the fact that Great Progress has been made towards a Complete and Final Agreement with the Representatives of Iran, we have mutually agreed that the Blockade will remain in full force and that the Freedom Project (Movement of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz) will be paused for a short period of time to see if the Agreement can be completed and signed.’

Trump on Monday announced an effort to guide tankers through the strait, where hundreds of tankers have been stranded since the start of the Iran war on Feb. 28.

Iran launched attacks in the Middle East on Monday after Trump announced the US navy would reopen the waterway.

Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) responded by warning that any ship found violating the regime’s maritime rules would be stopped by force.

Iran launched four missiles at its US-backed Middle East ally on Monday and blew up a major oil port following Trump’s move to reopen the strait.

The United Arab Emirates issued a missile alert on Monday morning; This was the first since the fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran was declared last month.

Ship movements in the Strait of Hormuz seen here on a ship tracking site

Tehran’s decision to launch these attacks officially restarts hostilities between Iran and the United States in the Middle East.

Trump is exasperated by the stalemate but is reluctant to re-engage in an all-out conflict for fear it would worsen the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insisted Tuesday that the ceasefire remains in place, but he acknowledged that Iranian forces have attacked U.S. troops nearly a dozen times since the fighting halted.

He told a briefing at the Pentagon: ‘The United States aims to protect shipping from Iranian aggression.

‘The United States will not need to enter Iranian airspace or waters as part of the opening of the Strait of Hormuz. We are not looking for a fight. They said they checked the throat, but they don’t.’

His remarks came after Iran’s chief negotiator said just hours after the attacks on the waterway that Tehran had “not started” its battle to control the Bosphorus.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine said Iran had ‘attacked US forces more than 10 times’ since the ceasefire began last month.

Tehran has refused to return to the negotiating table despite mounting pressure from the US blockade of its ports.

Ships in the Strait of Hormuz near Bandar Abbas, Iran, May 4

Hegseth told reporters the Pentagon was “locked in and ready” to respond immediately if Trump ordered military strikes to continue.

“That option is always available,” Hegseth said of Trump restarting the war. ‘And Iran knows this and that’s why, you know, their choices in the Freedom Project matter.’

Officials also announced that a major fire broke out in the Fujairah Oil Industrial Zones on Monday following a drone attack from Iran.

US warships and aircraft protected several commercial ships from Iranian attacks, a senior US official said early Monday.

Sources said that an Iranian unmanned aerial vehicle successfully hit the oil ship JV Innovation, bound for the Marshall Islands, while it was trying to pass through the strait.

US warships respond to cruise missile fire by sinking six small Iranian boats