President Donald Trump has announced that the US will pause its plan to escort foreign ships out of the Strait of Hormuz, dubbed Project Freedom.

Trump said that he made the decision to pause Project Freedom in response to requests from Pakistan and other nations, while claiming progress being made on an agreement with Iran was also a factor.

A post to Truth Social said: ‘Based on the request of Pakistan and other Countries, the tremendous Military Success that we have had during the Campaign against the Country of Iran and, additionally, the fact that Great Progress has been made toward a Complete and Final Agreement with Representatives of Iran, we have mutually agreed that, while the 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.’

It comes as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the offensive stage of Operation Epic Fury is ‘over’.

Trump announced the effort on Monday to guide tankers through the strait where hundreds have been stuck since the Iran war began on February 28. 

Iran launched strikes in the Middle East on Monday after Trump announced the US navy would reopen the waterway.

Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) responded by warning that any ship found violating the regime’s maritime rules would be stopped by force.

Iran launched four missiles at US-backed Middle Eastern ally UAE on Monday and blew up a major oil port, following Trump‘s move to reopen the strait.

The United Arab Emirates was forced to issue its first missile alert since the fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran was announced last month.

Tehran’s decision to launch these attacks officially resumes hostilities between Iran and the US in the Middle East. 

Trump has been infuriated by the stalemate but is reluctant to be drawn back into a full-scale conflict amid fears it will exacerbate the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz.

A container ship owned by French shipping company CMA CGM was the ‘target of an attack’ in the crucial waterway, the major shipping firm said on Wednesday.

‘The CMA CGM San Antonio was the target of an attack yesterday while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, resulting in injuries among crew members and damage to the vessel,’ the shipping firm told AFP, adding those injured had been evacuated for treatment.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insisted Tuesday that the ceasefire is holding – even as he admitted Iranian forces had attacked US troops nearly a dozen times since the pause in fighting. 

He told a Pentagon briefing: ‘The US aims to protect shipping from Iranian aggression. 

‘The US won’t need to enter Iranian airspace or waters as part of opening the Strait of Hormuz. We’re not looking for a fight. They said they control the Strait, they do not.’

His remarks come after Iran’s chief negotiator warned Tehran has ‘not even started’ in the battle to control the Strait hours after attacks were traded in the waterway.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine said Iran had attacked ‘attacked US forces more than 10 times’ since the ceasefire began last month.

Tehran has refused to come back to the negotiating table, even under mounting pressure from the US blockade of its ports.

Hegseth told reporters the Pentagon stands ‘locked and loaded’ to respond immediately if Trump orders military strikes to resume.

‘That option is always there,’ Hegseth said of Trump restarting the war. ‘And Iran knows that, and that’s why, you know, their choices in Project Freedom are important.’ 

Authorities also announced that a massive fire broke out at the Fujairah Oil Industry Zones on Monday following a drone attack from Iran.

A senior US official said that US warships and aircraft protected several commercial vessels from Iranian attacks earlier on Monday.

Sources said an Iranian drone successfully struck a Marshall Islands-linked oil vessel named the JV Innovation while it was attempting to move through the strait.

US warships responded to the cruise missile fire by sinking six small Iranian boats