Just one day after it began, President Donald Trump announced a pause on “Project Freedom,” his operation to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz. Fox News host Jesse Watters quickly framed the pause as a smart and deliberate move, saying Trump was letting Iran keep its dignity intact.
“We suspect the president is letting the Iranians save face,” Watters said on Jesse Watters Primetime. “The enemy just yesterday said they controlled the strait. That was obviously a lie.” Watters argued that if the US had successfully escorted ship after ship through the passage, it would have badly hurt Iran’s standing in the region.
Watters also pointed out that Iran had attacked US-escorted ships and US Navy vessels on Monday. “Watching the Americans escort ship after ship out of the gulf and them not being able to do anything about that was going to be humiliating,” he said, as per Mediaite.
Trump’s pause on Project Freedom appears to be a calculated move tied to serious Iranian concessions
“Not only were they going to lose whatever military prestige they had left in the region, their negotiators weren’t going to be able to fight for their position after they lost their last bargaining chip.” The operation had already seen two ships pass through the Strait of Hormuz, and the US military struck seven Iranian “fast boats” in the strait.
Iran disputed this, saying two small cargo vessels were hit, killing five civilians. On Tuesday, the UAE’s foreign ministry reported that a tanker linked to Adnoc, its state-owned oil company, was hit in the strait, while South Korea reported an explosion on one of its ships anchored near the UAE.
Watters argued that Trump must have received major concessions from Iran before deciding to pause. “The commander-in-chief must believe that the Iranians are serious about surrendering if he is going to pause Project Freedom for the sake of a deal,” he said.
“Because you could also continue Project Freedom during the negotiations. You know, you do want to get these foreign ships moving. The president must know what he’s doing.” Trump has also been pointing to current oil prices as a sign of victory amid the broader tensions with Iran.
The pause came as a surprise, especially given what had been said just hours earlier. On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Dan Caine had spoken at a Pentagon news conference, calling “Project Freedom” a “laser-focused strategy.”
Hegseth said hundreds of ships from countries around the world were lining up to transit through the strait, and Caine confirmed that merchant vessels had already passed through with more expected to follow.
Then, just hours after that briefing, Trump announced the project would be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not a deal with Iran could be finalized and signed. The announcement came after a ship belonging to the French CMA CGM group was hit in the Strait of Hormuz, injuring some crew members and damaging the vessel. This pause also comes in the broader context of the US military operation against Iran being declared over, with nuclear material still remaining a key unresolved issue.
The pause has raised questions about the direction of the operation. While Watters sees it as a strategic decision to give Iran room to negotiate without losing face, others may read it differently. The situation in the Strait of Hormuz remains unstable, and the gap between the Pentagon’s confident statements and Trump’s sudden pause has only added to the uncertainty surrounding the operation.
Published: May 6, 2026 01:15 pm