President Donald Trump has said that the US will help guide stranded vessels out of the Strait of Hormuz from Monday.
“For the good of Iran, the Middle East, and the United States, we have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways,” he wrote on social media, without specifying which countries would receive assistance.
Trump said any interference in the process, which he called “Project Freedom”, will “have to be dealt with forcefully”.
Iran has severely limited traffic through the vital shipping waterway since the war began in February. The US has also enforced a naval blockade on Iranian ports.
Senior Iranian lawmaker Ebrahim Azizi, a former commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, wrote on social media that “any American interference” would be “considered a violation of the ceasefire”.
In Trump’s post, he also said that US representatives were having “very positive” discussions with Iran, and that those talks “could lead to something very positive for all”.
Trump added the operation would be a “humanitarian gesture” made on behalf of the US, Iran and other Middle Eastern nations, without listing which countries. He did not provide further details on how co-operation with Tehran would be managed.
“In all cases, they said they will not be returning until the area becomes safe for navigation, and everything else… The Ship movement is merely meant to free up people, companies, and Countries that have done absolutely nothing wrong,” Trump continued.
US Central Command said that 15,000 personnel, guided-missile destroyers and more than 100 aircraft would be involved in “Project Freedom”.
An estimated 20,000 sailors have been trapped in the Gulf since the start of the war with Iran. There has been growing concern over dwindling supplies and the effects on sailors’ physical and mental health.
About 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) usually passes through the strait and the conflict has sent global energy prices soaring.
Late on Sunday, the United Kingdom Maritime Transportation Operation (UKMTO) reported that a tanker had been hit by an “unknown projectile” in the strait, adding that the crew were safe.
