Trump says US will escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz

President Donald Trump said discussions with Iran aimed at ending their war were going well, and confirmed that American forces would shortly start guiding commercial ships out of the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway Iran had kept closed off. Trump named the operation Project Freedom and framed the Monday start, Middle East time, as a humanitarian response for vessels that had run low on food and other essential supplies. US Central Command said the mission would draw on guided-missile destroyers, more than 100 aircraft, unmanned platforms and roughly 15,000 personnel, while its existing blockade of Iranian ports continued in parallel. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman said Tehran had put forward a 14-point proposal to end the war and had received Washington's reply through Pakistani intermediaries, though a single round of direct talks in Islamabad stayed deadlocked. A ceasefire has held since 8 April. The maritime intelligence firm AXSMarine counted more than 900 commercial vessels still in the Gulf as of late April.