Trump
says US navy will ‘guide’ trapped ships from strait of Hormuz amid ‘very
positive’ talks with Iran
US
president’s post follows flurry of mixed signals including concern Tehran had
not ‘paid big enough price’
Julian
Borger in Jerusalem
Sun 3 May
2026 23.27 BST
Donald
Trump has announced that the US will “guide” ships trapped by the Iran war out
of the Gulf through the strait of Hormuz on Monday morning, and claimed his
representatives were having “very positive” discussions with Iran.
Trump
wrote on his social media site that the operation, called “Project Freedom”,
would be a humanitarian gesture “on behalf of the United States, Middle Eastern
Countries but, in particular, the Country of Iran”.
“I have
told my Representatives to inform them that we will use best efforts to get
their Ships and Crews safely out of the Strait. In all cases, they said they
will not be returning until the area becomes safe for navigation, and
everything else.”
The
president gave no details of how the more than 850 vessels trapped in the Gulf
would be freed, and the Wall Street Journal cited a US official as saying the
plan doesn’t currently involve US Navy warships escorting vessels through the
strait. Instead it would reportedly be a process through which shipping
stakeholders can coordinate traffic through the strait.
After
Trump’s announcement a senior Iranian official warned any US attempt to
interfere in the strait of Hormuz would be seen as a breach of the ceasefire by
Tehran.
Iran
imposed a blockade on foreign shipping using the Hormuz strait soon after the
war began with a US-Israeli attack on 28 February. Trump imposed a
counter-blockade of ships using Iranian ports on 13 April.
US
central command said “Project Freedom” would support “merchant vessels seeking
to freely transit through the essential international trade corridor” and would
be aided by “guided-missile destroyers, over 100 land and sea-based aircraft,
multi-domain unmanned platforms, and 15,000 service members”.
Trump’s
announcement on Sunday came nearly three days after the presentation of a
14-point peace plan by Iran, which reportedly focused on an initial agreement
to open the strait of Hormuz. Iran’s foreign ministry announced on Sunday it
had received a response from Washington and would study it.
It was
unclear on Sunday night how the Iranian proposal and Trump’s announcement were
directly linked, but the president said in his social media post: “I am fully
aware that my Representatives are having very positive discussions with the
Country of Iran, and that these discussions could lead to something very
positive for all.”
However,
Trump added: “If, in any way, this humanitarian process is interfered with,
that interference will, unfortunately, have to be dealt with forcefully.”
Until
Sunday night, messages between the US and Iran had been conveyed by Pakistan,
with no reported direct contacts between the warring parties.
The US
president’s upbeat post about freeing Gulf shipping represented a
characteristically dramatic change of course and tone. On Saturday, he told
reporters he had received the Iranian plan but had not read it in full, then
later posted sceptical remarks casting doubt on a diplomatic breakthrough and
musing whether the Tehran regime had “paid a big enough price” for its past
wrongs, triggering speculation about a new wave of US strikes.
It is
more than three weeks since a Pakistani-brokered ceasefire stopped hostilities
in the Gulf but failed to open the strait, a critical gateway for oil, gas and
petro-chemicals. Oil prices rose to more than $120 (£89) a barrel last week,
with dire implications for the global economy.
The
continued impasse has cast a shadow over Trump’s delayed trip to China, planned
for 14 May. China is Iran’s biggest customer, buying 80% of its oil before the
war, accounting for 13% of Chinese oil imports.
An
estimated 20,000 sailors are stuck on the tankers, bulk carriers, container
ships and other vessels trapped in the Gulf by the closing of the strait, and
there are growing concerns for their welfare. Trump said the US had been
approached by countries around the world for help.
Trump
said on his Truth Social site on Sunday that the US would use its “best efforts
to get their Ships and Crews safely out of the Strait”.
There has
been growing speculation over the possibility of another round of US strikes
against Iran aimed at forcing concessions, including a halt to the country’s
nuclear programme.
Israeli
press reports quoted senior military officials as saying they were preparing
for possible US strikes on Iran, and the likelihood that Tehran would hit back
at Israel.
A senior
Israeli officer who briefed reporters on Friday said any peace agreement
without a cessation of Iran’s uranium enrichment programme and the surrender of
its stockpile of highly enriched uranium would be considered a failure.
Iran’s
military-backed Fars news agency had quoted a senior official as saying a
return to all-out conflict was “likely”, four weeks after a ceasefire was
brokered by Pakistan. Pakistani efforts to rekindle peace talks in Islamabad,
after a first round ended without agreement, have so far failed as each side
set preconditions that the other refused to fulfil.
Since the
arrival of the USS George HW Bush on 24 April, the US has three aircraft
carriers in the Middle East for the first time since the Iraq war in 2003.
While
issuing threats of a return to bombing, Trump has also argued to Congress in a
letter on Friday that the ceasefire meant hostilities had “terminated”, in an
effort to claim the administration is not obliged to seek congressional
approval for military operation by a legal deadline of 60 days from the start
of the war.
A few
hours later, Trump contradicted himself, telling a meeting of supporters at a
retirement community in Florida: “You know we’re in a war, because I think you
would agree we cannot let lunatics have a nuclear weapon.”
The
suspension of enrichment for a number of years, and the dilution or export of
the stockpile, had been on the table in US-Iranian negotiations that had been
under way when Trump launched an attack on Iran on 28 February alongside
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
The war
has led to an additional crisis as both sides have imposed parallel blockades
of the strait of Hormuz, the gateway for a fifth of the world’s oil and gas
supplies, as a means of exerting economic pressure to gain concessions, with
dire implications for energy prices and the global economy.
On Sunday
the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) centre reported that a bulk carrier
ship had come under attack by “multiple small craft” off the Iranian coast near
Bandar Sirik at the eastern entrance to the strait of Hormuz. The UKMTO did not
name the ship but said all of the crew were safe and advised other shipping to
proceed with caution.
Iran had
presented a 14-point proposal to the US via Pakistan on Friday, with a reported
focus on the lifting of the blockades and a new mechanism for managing the
strait. Iranian press reports portrayed this as a comprehensive peace plan to
be implemented within 30 days, rather than just a ceasefire.
It also
included the payment of compensation to Tehran for war damage, the lifting of
sanctions and cessation of hostilities on all fronts, including in Lebanon,
where Israel continues to exchange fire with Hezbollah despite a ceasefire
having been declared by Trump.
On
Sunday, Israel ordered thousands of people to leave villages in southern
Lebanon, and the Lebanese health ministry reported that 20 people had been
killed and 46 injured by Israeli strikes over 24 hours from Saturday to Sunday.
The
intelligence wing of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued a
statement via state television on Sunday which said: “Trump must choose between
an impossible operation or a bad deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran.” It
also cited a “shift in tone” from China, Russia and Europe towards Washington
and what it called Iran’s own “deadline” on the blockade. It was unclear what
deadline was being referred to.
At the
end of last week, the US threatened to tighten its blockade by imposing
sanctions against shipping companies found to have made payments to Tehran to
move their cargoes through the strait.
Rising
petrol prices and a slowing global economy also pose a political threat to
Trump as the US approaches congressional elections in November. A Democratic
win in one or both chambers would weaken his presidency. Trump has so far
shrugged off domestic concerns as he has become increasingly aggressive on the
world stage – towards traditional adversaries and allies alike.
Trump has
signalled he is prepared to escalate a showdown with Germany over critical
remarks about the Iran war made by the country’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz.
The Pentagon was reportedly taken by surprise by Trump’s announcement on social
media that troops would be redeployed, but on Friday announced 5,000 of its
roughly 40,000 troops in Germany would be withdrawn. The next day, Trump told
reporters: “We’re going to cut way down. And we’re cutting a lot further than
5,000.”
He did
not provide a reason for the redeployment, which would trigger resistance from
Congress if it took troop levels in Europe below a minimum level stipulated by
the legislature late last year. The congressional lower limit of 76,000
permanently stationed and temporarily deployed troops was imposed after the
administration withdrew a brigade from Romania, and earlier threats from Trump
to pull troops out of Germany and other European countries.
The
Republican chairs of the Senate and House armed services committees criticised
the proposed withdrawal from Germany, issuing a statement saying it risked
“undermining deterrence and sending the wrong signal to Vladimir Putin”. Rather
than being withdrawn from Europe, the troops should be moved further east
towards Russia, they said.
The US
troops at European bases are part of the US commitment to European defence, but
they also provide support for US operations in the Middle East and elsewhere.
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