A report on a sequence of events prior to U.S. President Donald Trump halting Project Freedom and working with Russian President Vladimir Putin to protect the Moscow Victory Day celebration:
There were two dramatic countdowns in the last week, when there were deadlines issued which, in the absence of a short-term resolution, could have resulted in a renewal of deadly warfare. One was Project Freedom, the threat from President Trump to militarily shut down the Strait of Hormuz to Iranian vessels; the other was from Zelenskyy of Ukraine, who threatened to send a swarm of drones into Moscow to disrupt the May 9 Victory Day parade of the Immortal Regiment. Both deadlines passed without military escalation, due to diplomatic initiatives and political pressure.
The sequence of events which prevented a breakout of new combat reveals much about the end of the “Rules-Based Order,” which had been premised on Anglo-American military and economic hegemony. Trump’s decision on May 5 to halt Project Freedom was at least partly due to two phone calls he received: one from Putin on April 29, the other from Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman. While the Russian readout of the 1.5-hour Putin-Trump call emphasized that the main subject was how to deal with the threat from Zelenskyy, it should be noted that Putin had also been included in a diplomatic offensive regarding ending the war with Iran.
Project Freedom put on hold May 5: Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi spent the last weeks on the road, with three meetings with Pakistani leaders, beginning on April 25. He left Islamabad the next day, for a meeting in Oman, then to St. Petersburg, to meet with Putin. Following his talks with Putin, he thanked the Russian leader and his country “for your positions and support,” while praising their “strategic partnership.” He then went back to Pakistan for the third time, to report to Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif. On May 6, Araghchi was in China, where he met with Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
