The US military operation designed to allow ships to transit safely out of the Strait of Hormuz has been paused within two days of it starting.
Posting on the Truth Social US President Donald Trump said that Project Freedom had been paused to see if final agreement could be reached with Iran on ending the war that started on 28 February. Trump claimed the suspension came at the request of Pakistan, which is acting as mediator with Iran, and that great progress in negotiations between the US and Iran.
While the operation to allow commercial vessels to transit the Strait of Hormuz is being paused the US naval blockade of Iranian ports remains in place.
Iranian media said Trump was trying to cover up the failure of his plan and making false claims.
Project Freedom has been met with scepticism by the shipping industry with industry organisations questioning the level of safety that it would really provide to commercial ships.
Just two US-flagged vessels exited the Arabian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz under the operation, one confirmed as the Maersk vehicle carrier Alliance Fairfax and the other believed to be the tanker CS Anthem.
As the US launched Project Freedom Iran launched multiple attacks on shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz with a tanker owned by a company affiliated to ADNOC hit by drones in the Strait on 3 May; a bulker attacked by Iranian fast craft heading towards the Strait, also on 3 May; and the cargo ship HMM Namu suffered an explosion while at anchor off the UAE on 4 May.
The UKMTO reported that a cargo ship was struck by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz at 18:30 hrs UTC on 5 May. A report by CBS quoting US officials said that Maltese-flag CMA CGM San Antonio had been hit by missiles in the Gulf region injuring several Filipino crew members. The last known position of the vessel was off the coast of Dubai.
Meanwhile US Central Command said that as of 5 May the naval blockade of Iranian ports had turned around 51 vessels since it started operation on 13 April.
