Trump praises Iran for the humanitarian effort. Iran denounces the effort, and oil yawns.
Project Freedom Details Sketchy
Countries from all over the World, almost all of which are not involved in the Middle Eastern dispute going on so visibly, and violently, for all to see, have asked the United States if we could help free up their Ships, which are locked up in the Strait of Hormuz, on something which they have absolutely nothing to do with — They are merely neutral and innocent bystanders! For the good of Iran, the Middle East, and the United States, we have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways, so that they can freely and ably get on with their business. Again, these are Ships from areas of the World that are not in any way involved with that which is currently taking place in the Middle East. I have told my Representatives to inform them that we will use best efforts to get their Ships and Crews safely out of the Strait. In all cases, they said they will not be returning until the area becomes safe for navigation, and everything else. This process, Project Freedom, will begin Monday morning, Middle East time. I am fully aware that my Representatives are having very positive discussions with the Country of Iran, and that these discussions could lead to something very positive for all. The Ship movement is merely meant to free up people, companies, and Countries that have done absolutely nothing wrong — They are victims of circumstance. This is a Humanitarian gesture on behalf of the United States, Middle Eastern Countries but, in particular, the Country of Iran. Many of these Ships are running low on food, and everything else necessary for largescale crews to stay on board in a healthy and sanitary manner. I think it would go a long way in showing Goodwill on behalf of all of those who have been fighting so strenuously over the last number of months. If, in any way, this Humanitarian process is interfered with, that interference will, unfortunately, have to be dealt with forcefully. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
DONALD J. TRUMP
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICAMay 03, 2026, 2:35 PM
The Wall Street Journal comments Trump Says U.S. Will Guide Stranded Ships Through Strait of Hormuz
President Trump said Sunday the U.S. would start guiding commercial ships out of the Strait of Hormuz where they have been trapped by the war between the U.S. and Iran, in an arm’s-length effort to unblock the vital supply route.
The new mechanism, which Trump dubbed “Project Freedom,” is effectively a coordination cell to move traffic through the Strait, involving countries, insurance companies and shipping organizations, according to two senior U.S. officials. It doesn’t currently involve U.S. Navy warships escorting vessels through the strait, the officials said.
But European diplomats and shipowners recalled previous failed attempts by the president to get shipping moving, including his call for NATO allies to send warships, a request that went unheeded. Without warship escorts, a coordination cell is unlikely to markedly change the situation in the strait, they said.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps recently deployed naval mines in the strait, posing new dangers for commercial shipping traffic through the waterway, according to one of the officials. Before the conflict, some 20% of the world’s oil supply passed through the strait.
The latest Trump proposal will involve locating the mines and passing along that information to ships transiting the waterway so they can avoid danger, according to senior U.S. officials, as well as identifying generally the safest routes to navigate.
The U.S. is seeking the support of other nations to provide information that would help identify those navigable routes, officials said.
“The Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf won’t be managed through Trump’s delusional posts,” the head of Iran’s parliamentary National Security Committee wrote on X on Sunday after the president’s announcement.
“Any US interference in the new maritime arrangement for the Strait of Hormuz will be considered a violation of the cease-fire,” Ebrahim Azizi said in his post, which he prefaced with the word, “WARNING.”
Traders quickly expressed skepticism that the new U.S. effort would solve the problem posed by Iran’s closure of the strait. A European shipowner with four vessels stranded in the Persian Gulf said there would have to be a “definitive cease-fire” before his ships start moving out. Brokers, owners and ship trackers say there are about 1,600 vessels trapped on both sides of the strait.
“The proposal is vague to say the least. If you are guided out by a western warship you can become an even more attractive target for the IRGC,” said Kostas Karathanos, chief operating officer of Athens-based GasLog, which has one gas carrier stuck in the Gulf of Oman trying to get to Asia since the start of the war. Shipping companies are afraid of being hit as they could become potential targets.
Trump’s announcement comes as he said he would likely reject an Iranian proposal to end the war, in the latest sign the U.S. and Iran have hit an impasse on cease-fire talks.
Iran in recent days submitted a 14-point plan to fully end war with the U.S. after both sides declared a temporary truce on April 7 to pave the way for negotiations. Key points of the Iranian plan were nonstarters for the U.S. side, including a payment of war reparations to Tehran and releasing of Iranian frozen assets.
Iran Response
Any American interference in the new maritime regime of the Strait of Hormuz will be considered a violation of the ceasefire. The Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf would not be managed by Trump’s delusional posts! No one would believe Blame Game scenarios!
Oil is unchanged on the announcement.
The oil markets don’t think much of this maneuver, and neither do I.
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seems like it worked.
Whenever a US president talks about freedom you are being bamboozled.
Well … It seems project freedom ended the cease fire.
Escalation is on. And Iran is seen as the one escalating with Oman and Korea potentially eager to retaliate …
And what happens if Iran blows an American military boat ? Retaliation. And then ? Will china stay put ?
May be this is just the USA testing Iran defenses.
May be this is getting out of control.
And so far the financial market seem to ignore the situation.
Where s the upside in this ongoing war ?
Lots of upside for shareholders in oil and defense companies, bureaucrats and family front running Trump announcements, and democrats getting ready to take control of Congress.
Oman?
If Trump had even the slightest ability to “guide” these ships through the Strait, he would have been doing it since the beginning. $5.00 gas at the pump coming up next week, thanks to the asshat in chief and his idiot followers.
Put Trump, with a long white cane and dark glasses, on the bow of the lead boat and let him find the mines.
I love this idea with a deep and abiding passion.
Is the Sunday night fluff the market with BS wearing out finally?
WSJ reporting “Shipowners said they were unwilling to risk a crossing given the threat of attack from Iran and a lack of clarity around how the new American operation to open the waterway would work.”
Jul Brent $110.37 and climbing
Jul WTI $103. and climbing
The market will always try to tell you the truth and set your profits free. I think more airlines might go bankrupt, need to look for some good put candidates.
Dow/Nasdaq futures down pre-market
Crude oil up 3%
We’re gonna need bigger lies
See, y’all fell for it…
old man playing for the markets
and it still works
I used to think only half the people were dumber than average
now I have my doubts
Trump’s Project Freedom ‘is not an escort mission’, US media say
US media outlets The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), CNN and Axios have emphasised Trump’s chosen word of “guide” rather than “escort” to describe how his new naval mission will work in the Strait of Hormuz.
The WSJ reported that US officials said the mechanism “doesn’t currently involve US Navy warships escorting vessels through the strait” while CNN quoted a US official as saying that the initiative is “not an escort mission”. It also said the US military will be “guiding stranded ships”.
Axios quoted a US official as saying that US Navy ships will be “in the vicinity” to prevent Iranian attacks on the commercial ships.
The WSJ also reported that European diplomats and shipowners have expressed doubts about the effectiveness of the mechanism with one shipowner saying being guided by a Western ship would likely attract Iranian fire.
CNN also said the plan “leaves a lot of unanswered questions” with one expert saying it is likely designed to make commercial ships “feel safe”.
I also have at least one unanswered question: How long is America going to be continued to be run by Israel?
Until their messiah, that is, the Antichrist comes.
What the First 60 Days Actually Changed—and Why the Next 30 Will Be WorseThe war is no longer about defeating Iran. It is about the United States trying to prevent a global system from moving beyond its control—and failing
https://escalationtrap.substack.com/p/what-the-first-60-days-actually-changedand
Expect more USN ships reporting to port due to “laundry room fires” and “clogged latrines”.
Iranians are calling this “the Hormuz Lint Trap” ™
IRGC Says It Struck US Navy Ship, US Officials DenyIran is claiming to have attacked and struck a US Navy vessel, announcing that it stopped US warships from entering the Strait of Hormuz “with a firm and swift warning” and noting that “additional news will be announced later” – a statement by state Tasnim News Agency said. Soon after, Fars news agency said that two missiles hit a US navy vessel near Jask island after it ignored warnings from the
IRGC to halt. Jerusalem Post also picked up on the statement, writing:
Trump has completely lost control of the situation. The Iranians have him over an oil barrel and having their way with him. What an incompetent ass. Even his buddy Tucker basically described that he’s in way over his head and has no control. The only thing he’s accomplishing is accelerating the demolition of Pax Americana. So sad that ignorance has taken over the USA, but probably better for the world in the long run
Had there ever been a greater misnomer than Pax Americana?
Wasn’t it changed to Pax Dumbfuckistan some years ago?
Whatever happened to that guy?
It is the set-up for the second Epstein War after the last one was finished last week. And the Epstein War II will run for ~60 days at which time the Pedophile in Chief will say he’s done fighting with another 60 day war to follow.
And the dysfunctional bastards in Congress will continue currying favor from a monster who will leave them for dead.
Left out the word “Fries”.
“Collateral Damage”
Sorry you orange retard, you should have thought of all these contingent issues before going into a country unprovoked and blowing it up at the behest of your jewish masters. Also, how about an apology for the 100+ school girls you slaughtered? They too, were “collateral damage.”
He can just blame those girls’ deaths on whoever developed the Maven AI software
It’s about noontime Monday in the Persian Gulf as I write this. Are ships being guided out or not?
No. But they could have their transponder off and maybe sneaking through.
https://hormuzmonitor.com/live-ship-data/
CNBC reporting TWO vessels made it through now.
Iran has called the US claim about ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz today “outright lies”. It says “no commercial vessels or oil tankers” have passed through the Strait of Hormuz.
Looks like some of our warships went in though… maybe Iran doesn’t have the reach it’s claiming.
Given there isn’t any real leadership chain left in Iran, you should have written “Someone in Iran said…”.
This makes no sense other than Trump talking up equities and down hydrocarbons. Unless there is some kind of backchannel deal set up and this is a good faith measure. No way Maritime insurance is going to cover this unless there are lots of explicit guarantees and Trump’s word is generally worthless except to a select few of the moment.
US navy personnel love to be used as pawns to attract Iranian weapon systems so we can get back to kinetic operations.
Just look at the Dow.
USN personnel was stationed in Afghanistan, a landlocked country. The Pentagon is a racket.
Another statement from Iran offering a bit more clarity on their intentions
https://x.com/jeremyscahill/status/2051084554018988481?s=20
Here’s an idea to open the blocked coronary commercial artery:
a. sign JCPOA+
b. pay the Iranians a toll for each ship (Tehran now accepts Paypal and crypto! SNAP EBT rumoured to be coming soon!)
Otherwise shipowners and crew of vessels carrying 2mm barrels of flammables remain highly allergic to even small levels of incoming hot shrapnel.
Thanks for the humor! 😆
old man playing for the markets
and it still works
I used to think only half the people were dumber than average
now I have my doubts
The Asian markets seem to be up
Yeah, China is back to exporting hydrocarbons, the blockade must be pretty porous…
Half of people are dumber than median. 90% of people are dumber than average.
The transiting ships will act as contact mine sweepers, locating positions of the previously placed mines. Mapping will be made of the contacts and called Freedom Maps, for distribution for all shipping parties to use. We are asking Iran not to replace those mines as a Humanitarian gesture on behalf of the United States, Middle Eastern Countries but, in particular, the Country of Iran.
After 4 May 2026, gold, crypto, and composite equity prices will go sharply in the opposite direction of rapidly accelerating oil prices. (Oil completes a 2/5/5/3 day :: x/2.5x/2.5x/1.5x 1st fractal subseries on 4 May.) Mish, the previously mentioned 59 cent shortfall of the record US gas price will soon be filled.
If you read Trump’s Truth Social post it sounds like the US Navy was gonna get involved:
“… we have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways…”
But alas Trump wasn’t forthcoming with the details. It makes sense why the US Navy wont be helping:
“Any US interference in the new maritime arrangement for the Strait of Hormuz will be considered a violation of the cease-fire,” Ebrahim Azizi said in his post, which he prefaced with the word, “WARNING.”
Trump posts are a cruel form of trolling, but I believe this is definitive proof Trump has run out of cards to play.
Market Manipulation Monday
Perhaps this is Iran’s response.
A tanker was just reported hit by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz, and this has been confirmed by multiple maritime security sources.
🚨 What happenedAcross four independent reports (AOL, Reuters, Al‑Monitor, and The Hindu), the same incident is confirmed:
All four sources describe the same event, with consistent details.
And the point you wanted to make was? Fear Iran?
War is hell. Ships may be blown up, people may die. The US will retaliate and sow further destruction on Iran. Embrace this reality and accept it.
I think his point was, once again, Trump is full of shit. Iran is not participating in any humanitarian effort.
He likes to make claims so later on he can make more claims that the other guy went back on his word.
Pretty ironic but we’re used to it
So go out there and risk your own neck, tough guy.
I’d rather send you.
Project “Epstein Distraction Extension”.
Everything was working well in the Middle East until Trump and Israel started another war based on lies. WMD’s and Iran’s Nucs were both bullshit!
When Trumps not having sex with schoolgirls, he is bombing them…
Yeah next cuba then midterms.
You seem to be a bit upset! 😁
Doesn’t this move indicate we are still at war – and Congress needs to vote on contii???
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Normally yes, but he decided that he was going to quit playing war guy over the weekend. Now he can start another 60-day war, the Epstein War II or just EWII.
I think it’s important that we switch to a numbering system because this will go on for quite some time, there will be many new wars under the orange Jesus
900-something days works out to about 15 of these cute little tourist wars
It doesn’t matter. The Republic is dead. This is them testing the waters to see how whether the citizens, drowning in debt and distractions (circus) with a belly full of glyphosate-enriched slop (bread), will lift their cheetos-coated snouts from their feedbags and avert their eyes from sportsball long enough to register a protest.
Laws don’t apply to Trump, what are you thinking?
There is one natural law no one can cheat…death. At 79 with a horrible diet and mental health issues trump has to be close. The problem is we need the grim reaper now not two or three years from now. These fake assassination attempts are just operations attempting to increase his poll numbers. I’ll believe the first attempt using a serious drone.
86/47 25th, impeachment or GOD, Monday May 4th at 4 PM EDT would be perfect for GOD to finally act /s