U.S. President Donald Trump, unable to find a way out of the trap he set for himself up, decided on escalating tensions in the Strait of Hormuz. Before Monday, May 4 was over, the U.S. would be claiming to have sailed two warships into the Persian Gulf, and missiles and drones had hit in the U.A.E.
The escalation began May 3, Sunday afternoon, when Trump announced “Project Freedom,” an operation to help commercial ships trapped in the Persian Gulf escape through the Strait of Hormuz, supposedly at the request of countries “all over the world” that wanted to get their ships out of the Persian Gulf. The initial impression left by Trump’s statement was that the U.S. Navy would be escorting commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz into the Indian Ocean. Unnamed senior officials, however, hastened to walk back that impression, telling [the Wall Street Journal that the new mechanism is effectively a coordination cell to move traffic through the Strait, involving countries, insurance companies and shipping organizations.
Yet within hours of the kickoff of “Project Freedom” on Monday morning, May 4, U.S. Central Command claimed that “U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers are currently operating in the Arabian Gulf after transiting the Strait of Hormuz in support of Project Freedom. American forces are actively assisting efforts to restore transit for commercial shipping. As a first step, two U.S.-flagged merchant vessels have successfully transited through the Strait of Hormuz and are safely headed on their journey.”
Aside from taking umbrage at CENTCOM’s using the term “Arabian Gulf” instead of Persian Gulf—likely an intended insult—the Iranians denied that any ships, never mind any U.S. warships, had passed through the Strait. Tracking data posted on X in reply to the CENTCOM statement seemed to back up the Iranian claim. All of that happened after the IRGC Navy fired missiles as warning shots toward American ships in the Gulf of Oman.
AS for the U.A.E.: “The U.A.E. Ministry of Defense said late on Monday afternoon that it was intercepting ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones across the country,” reported Al Jazeera. “It later reported that three missiles had been intercepted, with a fourth falling into the sea.” A senior Iranian military official said later on state TV that “Iran had no plans to target the U.A.E.” There is some suspicion in Iranian circles that this missile salvo and a drone strike on an oil facility in Fujairah might have been false flag attacks.
The day’s events have both the U.A.E. and Trump riled up. The U.A.E. will “not be intimidated” by the latest Iranian escalation, Dr. Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to President Sheikh Mohamed, said on X, reported The National. Gargash accused Iran of attacking civilians and declared “Once again, Iran has misread the situation.” Trump, meanwhile, claimed the United States destroyed seven IRGC Navy “fast attack boats"—another claim denied by the Iranians—and called on South Korea to join “Project Freedom” after a South Korean cargo ship was hit attempting to leave the Gulf.
