United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Tuesday that Operation Epic Fury<\/b> \u2013 the US-Israeli strikes on Iran that began on February 28 and escalated into a regional conflict \u2013 has concluded, having achieved its stated objectives. Washington now favors \u201cthe path of peace,\u201d Rubio told reporters.<\/p>\n
On the same day, US President Donald Trump declared that \u201cProject Freedom,\u201d<\/b> a US military operation launched just the day before to escort stranded ships out of the Strait of Hormuz, had been paused.<\/p>\n
However, in a social media post on Wednesday, Trump appeared to contradict Rubio\u2019s definitive stance, stating that Epic Fury would \u201cbe at an end\u201d only if Iran \u201cagrees to give what has been agreed to.\u201d Otherwise, Trump warned, \u201cthe bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before.\u201d<\/p>\n
This raises a critical question: Is the US-Israel conflict with Iran truly over? We delve into the rapidly shifting US rhetoric to understand the situation.<\/p>\n
During a White House media briefing on Tuesday, Secretary Rubio confirmed the cessation of Operation Epic Fury.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Operation Epic Fury is concluded. We achieved the objectives of that operation,\u201d Rubio stated.<\/p>\n
He added, \u201cWe\u2019re not cheering for an additional situation to occur. We would prefer the path of peace. What the president would prefer is a deal,\u201d referencing Pakistan\u2019s ongoing efforts to facilitate direct talks between Iran and the US. The initial round of these discussions in Islamabad last month concluded without a resolution, though both sides have since submitted new proposals.<\/p>\n
Burcu Ozcelik<\/b>, a senior research fellow for Middle East security at the UK-based think tank Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), told Al Jazeera that the \u201con-again, off-again talks with Iran, alongside Trump\u2019s abrupt about-turn on \u2018Operation Freedom\u2019 to guide vessels out of the Strait of Hormuz has created unwelcome frenzy in the Gulf.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ozcelik further explained that this reflects \u201cthe highly fraught and almost frantic diplomatic backchannelling aimed to extract deep concessions from Tehran on the nuclear issue that will lock in commitments that exceed previous conditions, and which will convince the US to lift the blockade on Iranian ports and unlock sanctions relief \u2013 thereby effectively ending the war.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iran, on its part, seeks guarantees that any agreement would signify a definitive end to the conflict, not merely a temporary pause.<\/p>\n
On the same day, President Trump informed reporters that Project Freedom had been paused \u201cbased on the request\u201d of Pakistan and other nations, and due to \u201cGreat Progress\u201d made toward a \u201cComplete and Final Agreement\u201d with Iranian representatives.<\/p>\n
Project Freedom was a US forces operation, announced by Trump the day prior, intended to escort stranded ships through the Strait of Hormuz<\/b>. This operation had been perceived as a direct challenge to Iran\u2019s closure of the strategic waterway, which normally handles 20 percent of the world\u2019s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies. Iran\u2019s warnings against ships in the strait had effectively blockaded it since the US-Israel actions against Iran began, further intensified by a US naval blockade on Iranian ports.<\/p>\n
Following Trump\u2019s announcement of Project Freedom, Iran stated that ships attempting to use the strait without permission from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) would face fire, sparking fears of renewed conflict. This triggered a war of words, with claims and counterclaims of strikes throughout the day.<\/p>\n
Initially, Iran\u2019s Fars agency claimed it had struck a US warship with drones after it disregarded orders to turn back. US Central Command (CENTCOM) denied any US ship was hit, instead claiming to have sunk at least six IRGC vessels, which Iran denied. Tehran then published a new map extending its claimed area of control over the strait into UAE waters, raising concerns of a new regional confrontation. The UAE also accused Iran of launching strikes on its Fujairah port, leading to a fire at an oil refinery.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, the US operation was halted, as confirmed by Trump. He wrote on his Truth Social platform: \u201cWe have mutually agreed that, while the [US] Blockade will remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom (The Movement of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz) will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed.\u201d Iran has yet to officially respond.<\/p>\n
Shahram Akbarzadeh<\/b>, a professor in Middle East and Central Asian politics at Australia\u2019s Deakin University, suggested to Al Jazeera that while Trump\u2019s exact motivations for pausing Project Freedom are unclear, it coincides with growing anti-war sentiment in the US.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the same time, Trump may be losing patience with the war; he says he has time to drag this out,\u201d Akbarzadeh noted. \u201cBut in reality, Trump has a short attention span and needs to secure a win \u2013 soon. Pausing Project Freedom allows diplomacy to pick up pace, bringing US and Iran closer to a deal that Trump would label as a win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not entirely. Akbarzadeh believes that pausing Project Freedom \u201ccould serve as the beginning of the end for the war.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that the Iranians are desperate for an end, so there is little chance of them resuming attacks on US Navy if Trump sends explicit signals that diplomacy has a green light,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
However, he cautioned, \u201cThe problem is that we have been here before. Earlier opportunities were squandered because Israel insisted that the US could get a better deal or because Trump misread the situation and expected the military option to grant him more concessions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Predicting the future remains challenging, but neither side appears to desire a return to full-scale war, suggesting a diplomatic resolution is likely to be prioritized, according to Akbarzadeh. Still, he added, \u201cneither can afford to be seen as the loser. They feel their public image needs to be preserved for their own respective domestic audience. This complicates negotiations and reaching a deal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ozcelik stated that what unfolds next \u201cwill be determined by what the fractured leadership in Tehran commits to on the nuclear file.\u201d She noted that while Iran has publicly rejected talks involving curbs on its nuclear program, such posturing aims to appease domestic hard-liners and nationalists who view nuclear issues from a sovereign rights perspective, especially after the US-Israel actions.<\/p>\n
Ozcelik predicted that the United Nations might soon issue a formal condemnation of Iran for unilaterally blockading the Strait of Hormuz. She concluded, \u201cBut the real pressure, mounting by the day, is the economic one \u2013 that shutting the strait is imposing punishing costs on Iran\u2019s economic recovery prospects. Despite rhetoric on resilience and survival, the remaining Iranian leadership is undeniably concerned about the costs of the war. The possibility of renewed military strikes against Iranian critical infrastructure and the destabilizing impacts these would inevitably have might be finally forcing Tehran\u2019s hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
#IranConflict #EpicFury #ProjectFreedom #USDiplomacy #MiddleEast #StraitOfHormuz #Geopolitics #PeaceTalks #InternationalRelations #TrumpRubio<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Tuesday that Operation Epic Fury \u2013 the US-Israeli strikes on Iran that began on February 28 and escalated into a regional conflict \u2013 has concluded, having achieved its stated objectives. Washington now favors \u201cthe path of peace,\u201d Rubio told reporters. On the same day, US President […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7048,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}