U.S. President Donald Trump said he will launch Project Freedom, an evacuation operation to safely extract third-country ships trapped in the Strait of Hormuz by the Middle East conflict.
With tensions in the Middle East peaking and a key global crude oil route blocked, the United States appears to be stepping in to prevent a logistics meltdown and a surge in inflation. Observers say the move reflects concerns that, if the ship detentions drag on, devastating global economic damage will be unavoidable.
On the 4th (local time), Trump issued a statement on Truth Social the day before and announced that Project Freedom would go into full operation from the morning of the 4th Middle East time. The idea is for the United States to actively guide and assist neutral-country ships and crews, who have nothing to do with the Middle East conflict, to exit the strait safely.
Trump noted that support requests had been received from these countries and said, "The U.S. delegation is engaged in very positive talks with Iran." He warned, "If this humanitarian process is obstructed in any way, we regret it, but we will have no choice but to respond forcefully."
The evacuation operation is an essential step to preemptively block the economic fallout from a prolonged strait closure. With the Strait of Hormuz, a critical artery for global crude shipments, shut, ships currently trapped are suffering severe shortages of food and daily necessities.
Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, said in a recent interview that "even if the Strait of Hormuz reopens today, it will take six months for supply chains to normalize," noting that the longer the war phase lasts, the greater the risk and damage from inflation.
Working-level talks between the United States and Iran on rescuing ships have begun, but the two countries remain far apart on how to fully end the war. On this day, Iran government Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said through state media that they would not negotiate under deadlines or pressure, but added, "Right now we are solely focused on ending the war on all fronts."
By contrast, in an interview with Israel's Kan News, Trump drew a firm line against Iran's newly presented 14-point peace proposal, saying it was "unacceptable." Because of this, Middle East experts assessed that while both sides have found common ground on the humanitarian step of evacuating ships, a fundamental cease-fire deal is likely to face considerable turbulence.