CIREBON NEWS – The United States (US) claims that Operation Epic Fury against Iran has achieved its objectives. The war was over and Washington had what he wanted.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there was no more war and Iran agreed to peace. “Operation Epic Fury is complete. We achieved the objectives of the operation,” Rubio said.
On the same day, US President Donald Trump announced that the US military operation to escort the stranded ships out of the Strait of Hormuz – “Operation Freedom,” launched a day earlier – had been paused.
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“We don’t support an additional situation. We prefer the path of peace. What the president wants is a deal,” Rubio said, referring to Pakistan’s efforts to arrange direct talks between Iran and the US.
The first round of these talks, in Islamabad last month, ended without a resolution. Both parties have put forward new proposals since then.
“The on-again, off-again talks with Iran, along with Trump’s sudden turnaround on ‘Operation Freedom’ to guide ships out of the Strait of Hormuz have created unwanted panic in the Gulf,” Burcu Ozcelik, senior Middle East security researcher at the UK-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank, told Al Jazeera.
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“It also reflects a very tense and almost frantic covert diplomatic effort aimed at extracting major concessions from Tehran on the nuclear issue that would lock in commitments beyond previous requirements,” said Burcu Ozcelik.
Ozcelik explained that Iran, on the other hand, wanted assurances that this would be the end of the war, not just a pause.
One surprising thing, Donald Trump stopped Operation Freedom suddenly. Operation Freedom is an operation by US forces to escort stranded ships through the Strait of Hormuz that Trump announced in a fiery manner.
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This appeared to signal a direct challenge to Iran’s closure of the strategic waterway, through which 20 percent of the world’s peacetime supplies of oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) pass.
Iran’s threats to attack ships in the strait have blockaded it since the US-Israel attack on Iran began. Then, the US announcement of a naval blockade of Iranian ports added to the deadlock around the strait.
After Trump announced Operation Freedom, Iran said that ships attempting to use the strait without permission from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) would be shot at, sparking fears of a return to war. Trump’s announcement sparked a war of words between the US and Iran, with claims and denials about the attack continuing throughout the day.
Also read: Two Iranian missiles hit a United States warship in the Strait of Hormuz, tanker escort has not yet been implemented
First, Iran’s Fars news agency claimed it had attacked a US warship with a drone after it ignored orders to turn away from the Strait of Hormuz.
However, US Central Command (CENTCOM) denied that US ships had been attacked, and instead claimed to have sunk at least six IRGC ships. Iran denies this.
Tehran later published a new map extending its control claim over the strait into UAE waters, raising fears of a new regional confrontation.
