On Friday, the Iran War passed 60 days without Congressional authorization and became officially illegal. Rather than withdraw U.S. troops as required, Trump informed Congress that the law did not apply since hostilities had been “terminated” and Operation Epic Fury, which is what the Trump administration had named the war, had concluded. Two days later, Trump announced that “Project Freedom” was beginning Monday morning, describing it as a “humanitarian” mission focused on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and freeing the roughly 1,600 commercial ships trapped in the Persian Gulf since the war began.
Afterward, U.S. officials who spoke with the Wall Street Journal made the it sound like some shipping traffic coordination scheme, rather than a military operation. Then on Monday, the U.S. Navy sent a pair of guided-missile destroyers into the Persian Gulf to escort two commercial ships — which reportedly had U.S. military teams aboard providing security — out through the Strait of Hormuz. They were fired upon by Iran, but made the transit unharmed.
Trump later downplayed the exchange of fire and brushed off the state of the conflict as a “mini-war,” while also continuing to threaten Iran.
On Tuesday morning, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that Project Freedom was “separate and distinct” from the Iran war, calling it “defensive in nature, focused in scope and temporary in duration.” He was certainly right about the second part.
On Tuesday afternoon, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that “Operation Epic Fury is concluded” and its objectives “achieved.” He said that the goal of Project Freedom was to “rescue almost 23,000 civilians from 87 different countries that are trapped in the Persian Gulf by the Iranian regime.” He also said the operation was defensive only and that “there’s no shooting unless we’re shot at first.” He referred to Iran’s conduct as “piracy” and emphasized that its regime “cannot be allowed to dictate who uses this vital waterway.”
Since Trump is already walking it back, Project Freedom doesn’t just appear to be a cynical attempt to rebrand the war, but also, for now, another failed attempt to pressure Iran to give up its wartime leverage. And all those ships remain stranded.
