Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to reporters Tuesday from the White House briefing room, apparently with a single goal in mind: talk up the administration’s new policy in the Strait of Hormuz.
Asked, for example, about whether the United States would have to acquire all Iranian nuclear material in order to end the war, Rubio suggested the war has already come to an end.
“The operation is over,” the secretary claimed. “Epic Fury, as the president notified Congress, we’re done with that stage of it, OK? We’re now on to this Project Freedom.”
Hours earlier, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine held a briefing at the Pentagon and stressed the same point. Hegseth referenced “Project Freedom” in his first sentence, before mentioning it another 10 times over the course of the briefing, insisting it is “separate and distinct” from the 10-week-old war. For his part, Caine referenced “Project Freedom” a half-dozen additional times.
The point was not subtle: The Trump administration’s line du jour was to argue the war that began on Feb. 28 has, for all intents and purposes, run its course. The new priority was a maritime security initiative involving U.S. ships escorting other ships through the strait. To hear Rubio and Hegseth tell it, anyone focusing on the war was behind the times: All that matters now, they argued, was “Project Freedom.”
A couple of hours after Rubio wrapped up his Q&A at the White House, Donald Trump put the “project” on ice. MS NOW reported as part of the network’s liveblog coverage.
Trump announced the U.S. will temporarily pause “Project Freedom,” which involves escorting ships through the Strait of Hormuz, following requests from Pakistan and other countries.
The president cited recent U.S. military gains and ongoing negotiations as reasons for the pause, emphasizing that the blockade against Iran will remain in place. The suspension is intended to create space for talks between the U.S. and Iran to be finalized, with the operation expected to resume if an agreement is not reached.
Dan Drezner, a professor of international politics at Tufts University, noted soon after, “Phew, it’s a good thing no U.S. policy principal came out today to hype this operation. Otherwise it would seem as though this administration hasn’t the faintest f—ing clue what it’s doing.”
Consider a brief timeline of events:
Sunday afternoon, May 3: Trump uses his social media platform to announce “a Humanitarian gesture” that would include guiding commercial ships through regional waters.
Monday, May 4: The administration’s “Project Freedom” gets underway.
Tuesday, May 5: The administration spends the day emphasizing “Project Freedom” and talking about how important it is to the U.S. strategy.
Later Tuesday, May 5: Trump says, in effect, “Never mind.”
As a New York Times analysis added, “Mr. Trump’s suspension of the effort to guide ships out of the strait seemed to contradict the administration’s stated position that it was intolerable for Iran to block an international waterway, and that only the United States had the ability to force it open again.”
The president’s argument was that by pausing the policy, it might open the door to a deal with Iran. And yet, it was just a few days ago when Trump said he might not actually want a deal (a day later, he pretended he didn’t say what we all heard him say). Why the Republican administration would want a deal to end a war that’s already over is far from clear.
What’s more, Team Trump’s incessant claims about the war having ended are belied by of this week’s violent exchanges between the U.S. and Iran.
As for the uncertain near-future, the American president declared online on Wednesday morning that if Iran fails to agree to a possible deal, “the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before.” Watch this space.
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