The US will begin to guide stranded ships out of the Strait of Hormuz on Monday after a cargo ship came under attack near the waterway, President Trump announced Sunday.
Trump said countries from all over the world that operate the hundreds of ships stuck around the Strait of Hormuz have reached out to the US for help, with the president vowing to step up.
“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 wrote on Truth Social.
“These are Ships from areas of the World that are not in any way involved with that which is currently taking place in the Middle East,” he added.
“The Ship movement is merely meant to free up people, companies, and Countries that have done absolutely nothing wrong — They are victims of circumstance.”
The president said the operation, which he dubbed Project Freedom, would begin on Monday morning, local time.
His announcement came hours after a cargo ship was struck by multiple small craft near the strait, the first such attack on a shipping vessel in the waterway since April 22.
The ship, which was not immediately identified, was hit right off the coast of Sirik, Iran, just east of the strait, according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre. All crew members were reported to be safe.
No country or group has taken responsibility for the attack, but Iran’s military has repeatedly warned that any ship that tries to navigate the strait would be attacked unless they pay a toll and prove they are not affiliated with the US or Israel.
Beyond the threat of strikes, Trump noted that the estimated 20,000 seafarers stuck in the Persian Gulf are “running low on food, and everything else necessary for large scale crews to stay on board in a healthy and sanitary manner.”
The United Nations had previously highlighted the danger being posed to the trapped ships and their crew amid Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump said that if Iran were to allow the ships to cross without problem, it would be a sign of “goodwill” amid tenuous peace talks between the two countries.
“If, in any way, this Humanitarian process is interfered with, that interference will, unfortunately, have to be dealt with forcefully,” he warned.
It remains to be seen if any ship will take up America’s offer to be escorted across the Strait of Hormuz, given Iran’s repeated threats against US and Israeli ships.
Tehran has kept the key oil chokepoint in retaliation for US-Israeli joint airstrikes, with at least two dozen attacks reported around the strait since the war began.
