Only one operation will get shipping back flowing freely

Even by Trump’s standards, it was ridiculous to claim that the US could guide ‘neutral’ ships through the closed strait

- SEAN O'GRADY

At first glance, the latest product of the strategic mind of Donald J Trump looks promising, not to say valiant and brave.

“Project Freedom”, so much more gentle-sounding and uplifting than operations Midnight Hammer and Epic Fury, is nothing less than, in his words, a “humanitarian gesture” designed to rescue “neutral and innocent” crews stranded for weeks and build “goodwill” in the conflict. It’s all very well, but there are at least three things wrong with the project that suggest it’s not been fully thought through. Quelle surprise, as they say in Tehran.

First, according to Trump, the project sounds like it’s almost a joint operation with Iran, a sort of modern maritime version of the Christmas Day truce between the Germans and the British, when Tommies and Fritzes emerged from the trenches to play football and swap stories. Trump, with chutzpah unusual even for him, declares he’s doing all this on behalf of the “United States, Middle Eastern Countries but, in particular, the Country of Iran”. Which is odd, because this restriction on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz is Iran’s blockade, not his own, and he’s not proposing to lift his own embargo on traffic moving into and out of Iran’s ports.