We ask the BBC’s diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams about the strategy behind President Donald Trump’s Project Freedom – a plan for US forces to guide stranded ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
On Tuesday, the US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth said the US had established "a powerful red, white and blue dome" of defence over the Strait as a "gift to the world", and that two American commercial ships had already made the crossing.
There is growing concern that the operation could jeopardise the fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran. US Central Command has said that since the start of Project Freedom, the Iranian military has fired at American naval and commercial ships. Iran has also resumed firing missiles at the United Arab Emirates, and is suspected of targeting a South Korean cargo vessel anchored in the Strait of Hormuz.
Washington’s top general, Dan Caine, has said that the latest Iranian attacks have fallen below the threshold of restarting major combat operations, but that American forces were ready to resume such operations.
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