As Iran continues to weaponize the Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump has to do something about it. Packing and leaving the war half done is not an option. Trump’s desire to end the Iran War is being interpreted by Tehran as a weakness, even though Iran is indeed hurting badly. One million Iranians have lost their jobs since the war began, and many more are not being paid, while food inflation is running at over 100%.
The Revolutionary Guards and Iran’s other surviving decision-makers are betting it will be Trump who blinks first. Trump’s flip-flopping and U-turns are seen as signs of indecisiveness and incompetence. The regime believes Trump is doomed and trapped as a bad result for the Republicans in November’s congressional elections would seriously weaken his presidency.
Huff and puff as hard as the Iranian regime tried, they were surprised Trump has not blinked yet. On the contrary, Trump and his inner circle are believed to have made tons of money from the ups and downs of the financial markets as a result of the president’s flip-flopping decisions. Trump is sticking to his demand that Iran surrender its nuclear programme once and for all as a prime condition for ending the war for good.
Privately, Trump has even compared himself to the likes of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon Bonaparte, Julius Caesar and even Alexander the Great. “He’s been talking recently about how he is the most powerful person to ever live. He wants to be remembered as the one who did things that other people couldn’t do, because of his sheer power and force of will” one confidant said.
For days, Trump has been toying with two options – either severely punish Iran for failing to abandon its nuclear work, or avoid a significant escalation that could draw the U.S. deeper into a Middle East conflict. If possible, Trump wants to avoid a fresh bombing campaign, preferring a negotiated end to Tehran’s nuclear advancements and the war that has raised gas prices and hurt the global economy.
Instead, Trump approved a third option – provide guidance to commercial vessels that would enable them to safely transit the Strait of Hormuz, not the protection of a naval escort. The decision was viewed as the middle course between all-out war and the blockade after meeting with senior Pentagon officials last week. That operation, known as Project Freedom, began Monday (May 4).
However, within hours, Iran launched cruise missiles and drones at two U.S. Navy vessels, and attacked the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.). It has even launched small boats to target U.S.-flagged ships in the Strait of Hormuz, but none were struck. The U.S. deployed Apache attack helicopters to blow up six small boats and intercept the drones.
Of course, Iranclaimed to have hit an American warship and also denied the U.S. sank any of its boats. It has even claimed to have stopped U.S. destroyers from entering the strait. Meanwhile, the U.A.E. said they had “engaged” 12 ballistic missiles, 3 cruise missiles and 4 drones fired from Iran, which resulted in 3 mild injuries. By hook or by crook, Iran cannot allow the U.S. to proceed with Project Freedom.
If the U.S. military could help free ships that have been “locked up” and unable to pass through the key trade route, it means Iran’s stranglehold over the strait is broken. Already, two U.S.-flagged merchant vessels had successfully transited through the strait “as a first step” in Trump’s new mission. Trump warned that Iran would be “blown off the face of the earth” if it targeted U.S. ships safeguarding commercial traffic through the strait.
Desperately to reassert Iran’s control in the strait, Tehran issued its threat – “We warn that any foreign armed force, especially the aggressive military of America, should they intend to approach or enter the Strait of Hormuz, will be subjected to attack,” Hundreds of ships and thousands of crew members have been stranded, and many of them are running low on food and other necessities.
But “Project Freedom” could be seen as a way for the United States to try to build up a greater presence around the strait and to shift power dynamics in the waterway in its favor. U.S. forces may be using ship-guiding – which Trump described as a “humanitarian gesture” – to test Iran’s limits and to see how much, if any, of the waterway it can claim for itself under the auspices of a “humanitarian” operation.
Therefore, Tehran may have walked into Trump’s trap. The president’s own political allies are pressuring the Commander-in-Chief to authorize new strikes as a swift retaliation because not only Iran has violated the cease-fire, but also attacked the U.S.’ humanitarian effort. While Trump didn’t want to be back in the position of striking Iran again, he has gotten the green light and justification to do so whenever he wants to.
Some U.S. and foreign officials said they believed Trump was likely to authorize a military response to Iran within days. After the cease-fire started on April 7, the U.S. engaged in talks to strip Iran of its nuclear infrastructure and enriched uranium. Tehran resisted, leading Washington on April 13 to impose a blockade on ships going to and from Iranian ports. Efforts to make a deal still fell short.
More importantly, the Trump administration wanted to show that U.S. forces were able to clear a safe pathway for commercial ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz despite Iranian sea mines. U.S. forces have recently used drones and other capabilities to clear mines in the strait, even without any help from allies such as NATO, Japan or South Korea.
The U.S. hopes its designation of a path close to the coast of Oman through which two U.S. destroyers and two commercial vessels passed on Monday without harm would instil confidence in other stucked vessels to also use the corridor under the U.S. protection. The world needs American leadership to secure the Strait of Hormuz, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.
Hegseth said the U.S. had “established a powerful red, white and blue dome over the Strait.” “American destroyers are on station, supported by hundreds of fighter jets, helicopters, drones and surveillance aircraft, providing 24/7 overwatch for peaceful commercial vessels, except Iran’s of course. In fact, six ships tried to run the blockade out of Iranian ports as Project Freedom commenced, and they were all turned around,” – he said.
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May 5th, 2026 by financetwitter
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