{"id":12501,"date":"2026-05-04T10:17:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T10:17:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/05\/04\/u-s-launches-mission-to-guide-ships-through-the-strait-of-hormuz-iran-threatens-attacks-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T10:17:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T10:17:29","slug":"u-s-launches-mission-to-guide-ships-through-the-strait-of-hormuz-iran-threatens-attacks-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/05\/04\/u-s-launches-mission-to-guide-ships-through-the-strait-of-hormuz-iran-threatens-attacks-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. launches mission to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz; Iran threatens attacks – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Iran<\/a> warned the United States on Monday not to approach or enter the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> as the American military launches a new effort to \u201cguide\u201d stranded ships through the critical waterway.<\/a><\/p>\n

President Donald Trump<\/a> announced that starting Monday morning the U.S. military would help free ships that have been \u201clocked up\u201d and unable to transit the key trade route amid the maritime standoff between Tehran and Washington<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It’s the latest bid to break Iran’s stranglehold over the strait, which has left global shipping at an effective standstill and sent energy prices spiraling.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Iran quickly pushed back, issuing a new map and a flurry of statements that sought to reassert its control.<\/p>\n

Passage must be carried out in coordination with Tehran, its military command cautioned. \u201cWe warn that any foreign armed force, especially the aggressive military of America, should they intend to approach or enter the Strait of Hormuz, will be subjected to attack,\u201d Major General Pilot Ali Abdollahi said in a statement carried by state TV channel IRIB. <\/p>\n

In a lengthy TruthSocial post late Sunday, Trump said the U.S. will \u201cguide ships\u201d<\/a> of countries not involved in the Middle East crisis safely out of the strait, \u201cso that they can freely and ably get on with their business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump added that what he dubbed \u201cProject Freedom\u201d would begin Monday morning Middle East time. <\/p>\n

U.S. Central Command, which has been enforcing Washington\u2019s blockade of Iranian ports, said that 15,000 service members, guided-missile destroyers, over 100 land and sea-based aircraft and multi-domain unmanned platforms will be involved in the new operation. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Vehicles<\/picture>
Vehicles pass a billboard in Tehran on Saturday which appears to show the sewn lips of Trump covered in a ribbon shaped to represent the Strait of Hormuz.<\/span>Vahid Salemi \/ AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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The Joint Maritime Information Center said that the U.S. has established an \u201cenhanced security area\u201d to the south of usual shipping routes to support transit. <\/p>\n

It said vessels should consider routing via Oman territorial waters as usual routes should be considered \u201cextremely hazardous due the presence of mines that have not been fully surveyed and mitigated.\u201d <\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear whether any ships had begun using the route or the U.S. mission.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Navy shared a new map of what it said was the area of the strait under its control, though it was not clear whether this represented any change.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/picture>
The map shows a line between Iran’s Qeshm island and the United Arab Emirates’ Umm al Quwain emirate. In the east, the area stops at a line between Iran’s Mount Mobarak and the U.A.E.’s Fujairah.<\/span>via FARS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maritime movements that are inconsistent with Tehran\u2019s \u201cdeclared principles\u201d will face serious risks, said Hossein Mohebbi, a spokesman for Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard. \u201cViolating vessels will be stopped with full force,\u201d he said, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency. <\/p>\n

Any American interference in the strait will be considered a \u201cviolation of the ceasefire\u201d currently in place between Tehran and Washington, warned Ebrahim Azizi, the head of parliament\u2019s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, in a post on X late Sunday. <\/p>\n

Hundreds of ships and thousands of crew members have been stranded in the area since Iran launched attacks and threatened shipping in the wake of the joint U.S.-Israeli assault<\/a> more than two months ago. <\/p>\n

Many of these crews are running low on food and other necessities, Trump said, calling his move to free them up a \u201chumanitarian gesture\u201d by the U.S. One sailor stuck in the strait told NBC News<\/a> the security situation left him unable to sleep, spending nights on the deck watching rockets fly over his head.<\/p>\n

Two ships<\/a> were attacked in the strait this weekend, the British military\u2019s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center said.<\/p>\n

Richard Meade <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Ships<\/picture>
Ships and boats in the Strait of Hormuz near Musandam, Oman, on May 1.<\/span>Reuters<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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With peace talks stalled, energy prices have been rising. Oil prices climbed slightly overnight, with the international benchmark Brent crude trading at around $109 a barrel. And the national average gas price in the U.S. continued to rise, hitting $4.46. <\/p>\n

Neither side has offered much optimism<\/a> about a deal to end the war, but Tehran said Monday it was reviewing the latest U.S. counterproposal.<\/p>\n

Mediator Pakistan meanwhile said that it had facilitated the transfer of 22 Iranian sailors from the \u201cTouska\u201d container ship seized by U.S. forces last month<\/a>. It described the move as a \u201cconfidence-building measure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sailors were flown to Pakistan on Sunday night, a statement from the country\u2019s foreign ministry said, and will be handed over to Iranian authorities. The ship will be taken to Pakistani territorial waters, the statement added, to be returned to its original owners after necessary repairs. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May 4, 2026, 4:45 AM EDT\u00a0\/\u00a0Updated\u00a0May 4, 2026, 6:06 AM EDT Iran warned the United States on Monday not to approach or enter the Strait of Hormuz as the American military launches a new effort to \u201cguide\u201d stranded ships through the critical waterway. President Donald Trump announced that starting Monday morning the U.S. military would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}