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The president Donald Trump announced this Tuesday the pause of the "Freedom Project," the U.S. naval operation to escort merchant vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, citing significant progress towards an agreement with Iranian representatives and a request from Pakistan and other countries.
In a message posted on Truth Social, Trump explained that the decision is based on "the tremendous military success" of the campaign against Iran and that "great strides have been made towards a comprehensive and final agreement" with Tehran.
The president clarified that the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports will remain "in full force and effect" during the pause.
"We have mutually agreed that, while the blockade remains fully in force and effect, the Freedom Project — the movement of ships through the Strait of Hormuz — will be paused for a brief period to see if the agreement can be finalized and signed," Trump wrote.
The Liberty Project was launched a few days ago, on May 4, as a large-scale naval operation involving more than 100 aircraft, destroyers, drones, and 15,000 military personnel under the command of CENTCOM, aimed at escorting between 900 and 1,550 merchant ships with approximately 20,000 crew members stranded in the Persian Gulf.
Those ships have been trapped since Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz at the end of February 2026, in retaliation for Operation Epic Fury, the joint U.S. and Israel attack that decimated Iran's military capabilities and eliminated Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
On Tuesday, two U.S. destroyers crossed the Strait of Hormuz under the escort of the Freedom Project, but Iran responded with naval and aerial attacks. The U.S. destroyed six Iranian vessels and intercepted missiles and drones during those initial hours of operation.
The pause comes amid intense diplomatic negotiations mediated by Pakistan. Since the ceasefire on April 7, multiple rounds of talks have taken place in Islamabad, with Vice President JD Vance, Jared Kushner, and Steve Witkoff representing Washington.
The peace talks between the U.S. and Iran concluded without an agreement in their first round on April 12, after 21 hours of negotiations.
The main breaking point has been the Iranian nuclear program. Iran presented a 14-point peace plan in early May that included a 15-year pause on uranium enrichment, but Trump rejected the Iranian proposal as unacceptable, demanding the complete dismantling of the nuclear program and a 20-year moratorium.
Trump extended the ceasefire indefinitely on April 21 at the request of Pakistan, whose Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and General Asim Munir have acted as key mediators between Washington and Tehran.
The Strait of Hormuz is the most strategically important maritime passage in the world, through which approximately 20% of the world's oil passes.
The pause in Project Liberty, with the naval blockade intact as a lever of pressure, suggests that negotiations have gained new momentum, although the gap between the positions of both parties regarding the Iranian nuclear program remains the central obstacle to reaching a definitive agreement.
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