US President Donald Trump announced a temporary suspension of the 'Freedom Project' operation aimed at freeing vessels stuck in the Strait of Hormuz.

The White House chief cited requests from Pakistan and other nations, 'tremendous military successes' in the campaign against Iran, and 'significant progress' toward a 'full and final agreement' with Tehran as reasons for the decision.

'While the blockade remains in effect, the Freedom Project will be paused for a short period to determine whether it is possible to finalize and sign an agreement,' Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Iranian state media claimed the suspension indicates 'the US failure to achieve its goals.'

Trump's statement came just hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Operation 'Epic Fury,' launched in late February, had achieved its objectives and that Washington's new priority is restoring the Strait of Hormuz's functionality.

'We achieved the goals of [Operation Epic Fury]. Now we are moving to the Freedom Project,' Rubio said.

The Secretary stressed that the Freedom Project is purely defensive in nature. 'There will be no shooting, but if fired upon, we will respond lethally,' he added.

On the night of May 4, Donald Trump announced the operation to free foreign vessels blocked in the Strait of Hormuz. According to him, 'countries all over the world' had appealed to the US. 'We assured these nations that we could safely bring their ships out of these closed waterways,' the White House chief said then. Iran responded by threatening to attack 'any foreign military forces, especially the US army,' approaching the strait.

Source: www.gazeta.uz