US PRESIDENT Donald Trump threatened Iran with more bombing on Wednesday if it doesn’t reopen the Strait of Hormuz after a report that an agreement is emerging to end war. Trump posted on social media that the war with Iran could soon end and oil and natural gas shipments could restart. But that all depends on Iran accepting a reported agreement that the US President did not detail. “If they don’t agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before,” Trump said. Trump said it was “perhaps a big assumption” that Iran would agree to the terms being offered by the United States. Trump pauses Project Freedom, claims great progress for final agreement with Iran: President Donald Trump has suspended “Project Freedom,” to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, claiming progress in negotiations with Iran toward an agreement to end the war. In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump said, “Great progress has been made toward a complete and final agreement with representatives of Iran.”

 

“Based on the request of Pakistan and other countries, the tremendous Military success that we have had during the campaign against the country of Iran and, additionally, the fact that great progress has been made toward a complete and final agreement with representatives of Iran, we have mutually agreed that, while the blockade will remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom (The Movement of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz) will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the agreement can be finalised and signed,” he said. Project Freedom was launched on Monday to escort ships, stranded due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, out to safety. Trump had announced the operation on Sunday and the US Central Command began implementing it the next day. However, the Project led to friction in the vicinity of the narrow seaway, a key route for transporting one-fifth of the global oil supplies, with the UAE claiming that its ships were attacked by Iran. The US also claimed to have destroyed several Iranian small boats.

 

Trump’s statement on Truth Social came hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Operation Epic Fury, launched on February 28, had concluded as its objectives have been achieved. “Operation Epic Fury is concluded. We achieved the objectives of that operation. We’re not cheering for an additional situation to occur. We would prefer the path of peace. What @POTUS would prefer is a deal... That is, so far, not the route that Iran has chosen,” Rubio told a press conference at the White House on Tuesday. On Project Freedom, Rubio said the goal was to rescue almost 23,000 civilians from 87 different countries who were trapped inside the Persian Gulf and left for dead by the Iranian regime. “This is not an offensive operation. This is a defensive operation, and what that means is very simple: there’s no shooting unless we’re shot at first. We’re not attacking them, but if they’re attacking us or they’re attacking a ship, you need to respond to that,” Rubio said.

 

 

IRAN has launched a new system to control ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, state media reported, continuing a maritime standoff that now involves a US blockade and threats of military action. Under the new rules, all ships planning to pass through the narrow waterway must receive permission via email from Iranian authorities, reports ‘Xinhua news agency’, quoting state-run Press TV. Iran is calling the initiative a “sovereign governance system.” Ships would be required to adjust their operations accordingly and obtain permission before entering the waterway, Press TV reported. It described the initiative as a “sovereign governance system” now in effect in the strategic chokepoint. Iran has tightened its approach to the Strait of Hormuz since February 28, when it said it would deny safe passage to vessels linked to Israel and the United States following joint strikes on Iranian territory. Iran’s Parliament is also considering legislation that would formalise restrictions on vessels tied to Israel and the United States and introduce a toll system for other ships deemed non-hostile.

 

The claims come amid heightened tensions over the waterway. The United States has also imposed restrictions affecting ships travelling to and from Iranian ports following unsuccessful post-ceasefire negotiations with Tehran in Islamabad on April 11 and 12. US President Donald Trump said Sunday that the United States would begin escorting ships out of the Strait of Hormuz starting Monday morning under what he called “Project Freedom,” describing it as a humanitarian measure. In response, Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, the country’s joint military command, warned in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency that “any foreign Armed Forces, especially the aggressive US army, will be attacked if they intend to approach and enter the Strait of Hormuz.” 

 

 

IRAN’S main military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said that the country’s Armed Forces have carried out no missile or drone operation against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over the past days, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. Headquarters spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari made the announcement on Tuesday (local time), stressing that if Iran had taken such actions, “we would announce it decisively and explicitly.” He rejected a report by the UAE that accused Iran of launching drone and missile attacks against the country, calling on the UAE’s officials and statesmen not to let their country fall into the trap laid by the United States and Israel, reports Xinhua news agency.

 

Zolfaghari also urged them not to wage a “media invasion” against Iran and hurl “unjustified accusations” against the country, noting that the UAE has become one of the main bases of the United States and Israel in the West Asia region and is home to a major part of their troops and military equipment. He emphasised that Iran has exercised restraint so far in the face of the UAE’s media hype and assistance to the “Muslim world’s enemies” solely for the sake of the security of the Arab State’s people, warning that if any action is taken from the UAE’s soil against Iranian islands and coasts, “we will give a crushing and regret-inducing response.” On Monday, the UAE said Iran had carried out renewed attacks using missiles and drones against the country, hitting sites including the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone, and injuring three Indian nationals. Meanwhile, Iranian state TV IRIB, citing a military source, said Iran had no preplanned intention to target oil facilities. It also blamed “US military adventurism” for creating conditions that allowed vessels to pass through what it called restricted areas of the Strait of Hormuz.