US President Donald Trump has announced a temporary pause to a US military operation aimed at guiding stranded commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, saying “great progress” had been made towards a possible agreement with Iran.
The move comes after days of rising tensions in the Gulf, where the US and Iran each claimed they had hit the other’s ships despite a ceasefire in the war. Tehran has warned that vessels attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz without permission from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) could be targeted.
Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine have declared separate unilateral ceasefires before Moscow’s Victory Day commemorations, highlighting continued divisions despite renewed calls for de-escalation in the four-year war.
