Trump suspends Project Freedom: stop the mission to Hormuz

Project Freedom, the major new American naval operation to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, lasted only a day or so. The president, in the latest surprise turnaround on the war with Iran, decreed last night a 'pause' in the mission, which envisaged escort and protection of commercial vessels by the American fleet in crossing the strategic maritime corridor.

The decision opened a new yellow light on the next moves in the crisis. Trump said the pause would be for a "short period of time" and evoked "great progress" towards an agreement with Iran, without giving further details. He made it known that he wants to see if it can be finalised. However, the blockade of Iranian ports will continue unchanged, he added.

What is certain is that Preject Freedom had in fact only managed to get three ships through since Monday and that the strait was de facto paralysed by threats and crossfire between Tehran and Washington. Doubts about its effectiveness, cost and risks had grown as the hours passed.

The impasse in the conflict, according to numerous American and international analysts, actually leaves only one way out: a compromise that would at least seemingly allow both Washington and Tehran to save face. Whether it will materialise, between a White House that has often seemed confused and a decimated but hardened Iranian repressive regime, remains an unknown to be solved.

This is not the first time, moreover, that Trump has spoken of imminent agreements, which then ended in a deadlock. The formally still ongoing treaty was triggered to give way to hitherto elusive negotiations. And questions may remain even afterwards: whether an understanding will be clear and solid and whether the results initially hypothesised by the US administration - denying Tehran any path to nuclear power and eliminating its missile capabilities - will be closer or, on the contrary, more distant. Not to mention whether global trade through Hormuz will ever return to what it was before.