Trump calls Iran talks ‘very positive’, US to ‘guide’ ships through Hormuz from May 4

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said on May 3 that “very positive discussions” were under way with Iran on finding a solution to the crisis, but nevertheless added that the United States will soon start escorting ships through the blocked Strait of Hormuz.

Mr Trump said “countries from all over the world” had requested American aid in navigating through the key waterway and out of the Gulf.

“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,” Mr Trump said.

“This process, Project Freedom, will begin Monday morning, Middle East time.”

He called it a “humanitarian gesture,” saying many of the marooned ships were “running low on food, and everything else necessary for largescale crews to stay on board in a healthy and sanitary manner”.

“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,” Mr Trump said in a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform.

Earlier, a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, Mr Esmaeil Baqaei, told state television that Tehran had submitted a 14-point plan “focused on ending the war,” and that Washington had responded to it in a message to Pakistani mediators.

“We are reviewing this and will take whatever response is necessary regarding it,” Mr Baqaei told state television.

Negotiations between the two countries have been deadlocked since a ceasefire came into effect on April 8, with only one round of direct peace talks held so far.

“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,” Mr Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

The US-Israel alliance launched attacks on Iran on Feb 28, killing the Islamic republic’s supreme leader. Tehran responded with strikes on US military bases and Israeli targets in the region.

Iran has maintained a stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz since the war began, choking off major flows of oil, gas and fertiliser to the world economy, while the United States has imposed a counter-blockade on Iranian ports.

As of April 29, more than 900 commercial vessels were located in the Gulf, according to maritime intelligence firm AXSMarine. There had been more than 1,100 at the start of the conflict.

“The Ship movement is merely meant to free up people, companies, and Countries that have done absolutely nothing wrong – They are victims of circumstance,” Mr Trump said.

In a post on X, US Central Command said starting on May 4, its forces would begin supporting Project Freedom with guided-missile destroyers, over 100 land and sea-based aircraft, multi-domain unmanned platforms and 15,000 service members.

“Our support for this defensive mission is essential to regional security and the global economy as we also maintain the naval blockade,” Admiral Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander, said in the post.

Impossible operation

US news website Axios, citing two sources briefed on the proposal, reported that Iran set “a one-month deadline for negotiations on a deal to reopen the strait,” dissolve the US naval blockade and end the war.

Earlier on May 3, the Revolutionary Guards sought to put the onus back on Mr Trump, saying he must choose between “an impossible operation or a bad deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Washington’s European allies are concerned that the longer the strait remains closed, the more their economies will suffer, and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul demanded that it be reopened.

In a call with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi, Mr Wadephul stressed that Germany supported a negotiated solution but that “Iran must completely and verifiably renounce nuclear weapons and immediately open the Strait of Hormuz.”

Oil prices are currently about 50 per cent above pre-conflict levels, largely due to the supply snarls in the strait.

Suffocating the regime

The US president, who spent the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, on May 4 declined to specify what could trigger new American military action.

But in his post he said that “if in any way, this Humanitarian (ship-guiding) process is interfered with, that interference will, unfortunately, have to be dealt with forcefully.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US naval blockade was only part of a broader economic embargo.

“We are suffocating the regime, and they are not able to pay their soldiers. This is a real economic blockade, and it is in all parts of government,” he told Fox News.

In yet more bellicose rhetoric, Mr Mohsen Rezaei, a military adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, said Iranian forces would sink US ships.

“The US is the only pirate in the world that possesses aircraft carriers. Our ability to confront pirates is no less than our ability to sink warships. Prepare to face a graveyard of your carriers and forces,” he posted on X. AFP