United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Tuesday that Operation Epic Fury<\/b>, described as the US-Israel conflict with Iran that began on February 28 and sparked regional tensions, has concluded after achieving its objectives. Washington now favors \u201cthe path of peace,\u201d Rubio stated.<\/p>\n
On the same day, US President Donald Trump declared a pause in Project Freedom<\/b>, a US military operation launched the previous day to guide stranded ships through the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
However, seemingly contradicting Rubio’s definitive stance, Trump posted on social media on Wednesday that Epic Fury would \u201cbe at an end\u201d 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 the crucial question: Is the US-Israel conflict with Iran truly over? We delve into the rapidly evolving US rhetoric.<\/p>\n
During a White House media briefing on Tuesday, Rubio informed reporters that Operation Epic Fury had concluded.
\n\u201cThe Operation Epic Fury is concluded. We achieved the objectives of that operation,\u201d Rubio affirmed.
\n\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 he added, referencing Pakistan\u2019s efforts to facilitate direct talks between Iran and the US. The first and only round of these talks in Islamabad last month ended without a resolution, though both sides have since submitted new proposals.<\/p>\n
Burcu Ozcelik, a senior research fellow for Middle East security at the UK-based Royal United Services Institute, told Al Jazeera that \u201cThe on-again, off-again talks with Iran alongside Trump\u2019s abrupt about-turn on Operation Freedom to guide vessels out of the Strait of Hormuz has created unwelcome frenzy in the Gulf.\u201d
\nShe further explained, \u201cIt also reflects the 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, thereby effectively ending the conflict.\u201d
\nOzcelik noted that Iran, conversely, seeks guarantees that this marks the definitive end of the conflict, not merely a pause.<\/p>\n
Also on Tuesday, Trump told reporters that Project Freedom had been paused \u201cbased on the request\u201d of Pakistan and other countries, and due to \u201cGreat Progress\u201d made towards a \u201cComplete and Final Agreement\u201d with Iranian representatives.
\nProject Freedom appeared to challenge Iran\u2019s closure of the Strait of Hormuz<\/b>, a vital waterway through which 20 percent of the world\u2019s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies are shipped in peacetime. Iran\u2019s threats to attack ships in the strait have effectively blockaded it since the US-Israel conflict began. On April 13, the US imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports, intensifying the standoff around the strait.<\/p>\n
Following Trump\u2019s announcement of Project Freedom, Iran stated that ships attempting to use the strait without permission from its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) would be fired upon, reigniting fears of renewed hostilities. The US president\u2019s announcement triggered a war of words, with claims and counterclaims about strikes continuing throughout Monday.
\nInitially, Iran\u2019s Fars News Agency claimed it had struck a US warship with drones after the vessel ignored orders to turn back from the Strait of Hormuz. However, the US military\u2019s Central Command denied any US ship had been hit, claiming instead to have sunk at least six IRGC vessels. Iran denied this. Tehran then published a new map extending its claimed area of control over the strait into the territorial waters of the United Arab Emirates, escalating regional confrontation concerns.
\nThe UAE accused Iran of launching strikes on its Fujairah port, an important oil pipeline site, and causing a fire in an oil refinery.
\nAccording to Trump, the US operation was halted on Tuesday to allow for negotiations with Iran.
\n\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 he wrote on his Truth Social platform. Iran has not immediately responded to this.<\/p>\n
Shahram Akbarzadeh, a professor in Middle East and Central Asian politics at Australia\u2019s Deakin University, told Al Jazeera that while the exact reason for Trump\u2019s pause of Project Freedom is unclear, it occurs amidst growing anti-war public opinion in the US.
\n\u201cAt the same time, Trump may be losing patience with the conflict; 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 the US and Iran closer to a deal that Trump would label as a win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not entirely. Akbarzadeh suggested that pausing Project Freedom could serve as \u201cthe beginning of the end for the conflict.\u201d
\n\u201cWe know that the Iranians are desperate for an end, so there is little chance of them resuming attacks on the US Navy if Trump sends explicit signals that diplomacy has a green light,\u201d he said.
\nHowever, Akbarzadeh 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 is challenging, but neither side appears to desire a return to full-scale conflict, suggesting both are likely to prioritize a diplomatic resolution, Akbarzadeh stated.
\nStill, \u201cneither can afford to be seen as the loser,\u201d he added. \u201cThey feel their public image needs to be preserved for their own respective domestic audience. This complicates negotiations and reaching a deal.\u201d
\nOzcelik believes what happens next \u201cwill be determined by what the fractured leadership in Tehran commits to on the nuclear file.\u201d
\n\u201cWhile it has rejected that talks involve curbs on Iran\u2019s nuclear programme, this type of posturing has aimed to assuage domestic hardline and Iranian nationalists who are rattled by the US-Israel strikes and see nuclear issues from a nationalist, sovereign rights perspective.\u201d
\nShe predicted that the United Nations might soon issue a formal condemnation of Iran for blockading the Strait of Hormuz.
\n\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,\u201d she concluded. \u201cDespite rhetoric on resilience and survival, the remaining Iranian leadership is undeniably concerned about the costs of the conflict. 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 #OperationEpicFury #ProjectFreedom #StraitOfHormuz #USIranRelations #Diplomacy #MiddleEastSecurity #NuclearDeal #Geopolitics #PeaceTalks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Tuesday that Operation Epic Fury, described as the US-Israel conflict with Iran that began on February 28 and sparked regional tensions, has concluded after achieving its objectives. Washington now favors \u201cthe path of peace,\u201d Rubio stated. On the same day, US President Donald Trump declared a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7071","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\/7071","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=7071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}