The flare-up comes as the U.S. military began executing "Project Freedom," an operation President Donald Trump announced Sunday to restore commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. To carry out the mission, CENTCOM said it would deploy guided-missile destroyers, upward of 100 aircraft operating from land and sea, various unmanned systems, and a force of roughly 15,000 personnel.
Iran rejected the operation outright. A direct threat was issued by Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi of Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, whose statement, broadcast through state media, warned that forces from abroad — singling out the United States — would face attack should they move toward or into the strait, ABC News reported. Iran's navy separately claimed it had blocked two U.S. ships from entering the waterway, according to CNN.
The Strait of Hormuz remained almost empty Monday despite the U.S. announcement. By 5 a.m. ET, tracking platforms had detected just a single vessel — a sanctioned tanker — making its way through the passage, with no other commercial ships recorded in transit, according to CNN. The U.S. Energy Information Administration has estimated that before the disruptions, the waterway handled around 20 million barrels of oil daily, representing approximately a fifth of the world's total output.
Diplomatic activity continued alongside the military standoff. Trump said his representatives "are having very positive discussions" with Iran. Iran's foreign ministry said it was reviewing a U.S. reply to Tehran's most recent peace proposal. Separately, Pakistan's foreign ministry said the crew of an Iranian vessel seized by U.S. forces last month had been transferred to Pakistan for repatriation — a step Pakistan described as "a confidence-building measure" by the U.S.
Oil prices had briefly dipped earlier Monday after Trump's Project Freedom announcement, before reversing on the disputed strike report. SPI Asset Management's managing partner Stephen Innes captured the mood in a note cited by CNN: "Washington and Tehran are locked in a stare-down that feels less like diplomacy and more like two central banks daring each other to flinch."
