U.S. launches mission to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz

In a lengthy TruthSocial post late Sunday, Trump said the U.S. will “guide ships” of countries not involved in the Middle East crisis safely out of the strait, “so that they can freely and ably get on with their business.”

Trump added that what he dubbed “Project Freedom” would begin Monday morning Middle East time, but it was not clear when the operation would formally begin.

U.S. Central Command, which has been enforcing Washington’s blockade of Iranian ports, said that 15,000 service members, guided-missile destroyers, over 100 land and sea-based aircraft and multi-domain unmanned platforms will be involved in the new operation.

The Joint Maritime Information Center said that the U.S. has established an “enhanced security area” to the south of usual shipping routes to support transit.

It said vessels should consider routing via Oman territorial waters as usual routes should be considered “extremely hazardous due the presence of mines that have not been fully surveyed and mitigated.”

It was not immediately clear whether any ships had begun using the route or the U.S. mission.