Trump backs down again and suspends his plan to escort ships through Hormuz

WashingtonAbout 72 hours at most has lasted the "Project Liberty" mission, which Donald Trump announced on Sunday evening. The US president said this Tuesday afternoon on Truth Social that the US military operation to escort commercial ships through the Iranian blockade in the Strait of Hormuz "will be paused for a short period of time". According to the tycoon, the decision was made at the "request of Pakistan and other countries" to "see if we can reach an agreement and sign it" with Iran. The leader assures that "significant progress" has been made in talks with Tehran, although the Iranians have not commented for the moment. The suspension of the operation comes a few hours after Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured that the White House is focused on "Project Liberty" and declared the "Furia Èpica" operation, with which the US began the war against Iran on February 28, to be over.

On the contrary, the counter-blockade that the United States is applying in Hormuz will remain in force, as the Republican explained. The suspension comes amid the new escalation in the Gulf with the reactivation of hostilities between US and Iranian forces. On Monday, the US Army's Central Command (Centcom) admitted to having intercepted three Iranian missiles against its positions, and announced having sunk six Iranian speedboats. Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) also reported suffering new bombings by Tehran. The Emirates have borne the brunt of this new episode of crossfire, and this Tuesday they reported new attacks by the ayatollahs again. On Monday, after intercepting at least 12 Iranian missiles and 4 drones, the Emirati Ministry of Defense issued a statement in which it reserved the full right to respond to the attacks as it deemed appropriate. It was also known on Monday that Israel had sent one of its defense systems to enter the UAE as reinforcement.

Centcom has not offered any information or statement on the ground situation for the moment. There is also not much more information about the diplomatic advances mentioned by Trump. This afternoon, Rubio assured that the special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, continued to work on the diplomatic track. On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reminded the US that "the events in Hormuz make it clear that there is no military solution to a political crisis", but also said that "talks are progressing thanks to Pakistan's efforts". Over the past weekend, a new settlement proposal was put forward through Pakistan, the mediating country, but it did not materialize either. For the moment, neither Islamabad nor Tehran have reacted to Trump's announcement to halt his plan to circumvent the Iranian blockade.

Although missiles had continued to fly over the region in the last few hours, the United States has striven to assert that the ceasefire remains in effect. Throughout Tuesday, Hegseth, Trump, and Rubio have repeated that the truce remains in effect. In cryptic tones, the Republican told reporters this midday that when the pause ended, "I will let you know."

The abrupt decision to withdraw Project Freedom is the latest plot twist in the serial that the Iran war has become. It also occurs in a particularly delicate context for the White House, as it has surpassed two months of war. Federal law stipulates that, after sixty days of conflict, the executive needs permission from the legislature; otherwise, it must withdraw troops from the region.

Last week, in the first hearing before legislators since the war began, Hegseth argued that, technically, only forty days of conflict had passed because the military pause had been underway for almost a month. This Tuesday, at the press conference from the Pentagon, the Secretary of Defense reiterated that "the clock has been stopped" for a month and urged Tehran to "be prudent."