Donald Trump’s bid to reopen the Strait of Hormuz yesterday risked reigniting the war in the Middle East.
After he confirmed Iran had fired ‘shots’ at vessels, the US President warned Tehran it would be ‘blown off the face of the Earth’ should it target American ships in the Gulf.
And air raid sirens sounded in the region for the first time since the uneasy ceasefire came into force last month, with the mullahs launching a series of missile and drone attacks on the UAE.
Fifteen Iranian missiles were intercepted, while drones struck an empty crude tanker in the Strait and attacked the country’s oil fields once more – sending the price of a barrel of crude back up to £85.
‘Project Freedom’, as it has been dubbed by the White House, brought a day of claim and counter-claim.
The US said it had successfully escorted two ships through the vital waterway, something Tehran blasted as ‘lies’.
On Tuesday, Denmark’s freight giant Maersk said that one of its ships had successfully sailed through the Strait of Hormuz under US escort.
The ship, US-flagged Alliance Fairfax, had been stuck in the Gulf since the war erupted in February and was ‘offered the opportunity’ to leave accompanied by the US military.
Donald Trump warned Tehran it would be ‘blown off the face of the earth’ on Monday should it target American ships in the Gulf
The US claimed it successfully escorted two ships through the Strait – something Iran later blasted as ‘lies’ (Vessels are pictured anchored off southern Iran on Monday)
The company confirmed the vessel had made the journey ‘without incident.’
Earlier, Iran said it had fired missiles at US destroyers, only for that to be denied by Washington. Up to 2,000 ships remain trapped in the waterway, with some 20,000 crew, and the Islamic Republic has vowed to maintain its blockade ‘with full strength’.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said: ‘Events in Hormuz make clear that there’s no military solution to a political crisis.’
He added: ‘Project Freedom is Project Deadlock.’
In a social media post, Mr Trump urged South Korea to join his project after he said one of the country’s ships had been shot by Iran.
He wrote: ‘Iran has taken some shots at unrelated nations with respect to the ship movement, Project Freedom, including a South Korean cargo ship.
‘Perhaps it’s time for South Korea to come and join the mission! We’ve shot down seven small boats or, as they like to call them, “fast” boats. It’s all they have left.’
He added: ‘Other than the South Korean ship, there has been, at this moment, no damage going through the Strait.’
Mr Trump said Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Caine, will hold a news conference on Tuesday.
Iran’s attack on the UAE tanker contrasted the President’s claim that there had been ‘no damage going through the Strait’ other than on the South Korean ship.
Iran’s major general Ali Abdollahi insisted that Tehran ‘maintains and powerfully manages the security of the Strait of Hormuz with full strength’.
He told ships ‘to refrain from any transit’ without Iranian permission, as a senior UAE official said the threats ‘cannot be ignored’.
But US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News his country has ‘absolute control’ of the Strait.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said its ‘guided-missile destroyers’ had transited the waterway and as a ‘first step’ two US-flagged merchant vessels had been guided through.
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Iran had earlier claimed to have hit a US warship and turned it round, before later saying it had fired only ‘warning shots’ after Washington robustly denied its navy had been struck.
Dismissing CENTCOM’s statement, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said: ‘No commercial vessels or oil tankers have passed through the Strait of Hormuz in the past few hours, and the claims of American officials are baseless and completely false.’
When Mr Trump announced Project Freedom to guide ships ‘safely’ out of the Strait on Sunday it saw oil prices cool, but yesterday’s strikes saw them shoot back up by 2 per cent. Shipping bosses said the situation remained too uncertain and complained of a lack of detail on how the US plan would work in practice.
German firm Hapag-Lloyd said last night its risk assessments ‘remain unchanged’ and the Strait ‘remains closed for Hapag-Lloyd transits until further notice’.
Project Freedom is the latest attempt to try to gain leverage over hardline leaders in Tehran who feel increasingly buoyant over the direction of the war.
Iran is now pushing for the US to delay talks on its nuclear ambitions in return for opening the waterway, which would represent a capitulation for America. Mr Trump has signalled he would reject the proposal and yesterday the Islamic Republic was reviewing a 14-point response from the US.
But the regime taunted Washington, with the intelligence unit of the IRGC saying ‘the room for US decision-making has narrowed’.
It said Mr Trump must choose between ‘an impossible military operation or a bad deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran’.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the ‘priority is to end the war’ but blamed the US for a lack of progress. He added: ‘The other side must commit to a reasonable approach.’
Vowing to blow Iran ‘off the face of the Earth’ if it attacks US vessels carrying out Project Freedom, Mr Trump told Fox News that he believes Tehran has become much more malleable’ in negotiations.
He said: ‘We have more weapons and ammunition at a much higher grade than we had before. We have the best equipment. We have stuff all over the world… bases all over the world. We can use all of that stuff – and we will, if we need it.’
The US also claimed to have sunk six Iranian small boats near the Strait of Hormuz.
CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper said Iran usually deploys ‘between 20 and 40 small boats’ when harassing vessels.
‘Today, we saw just six, and eliminated them quickly,’ he added.
