Here’s a look at what we know, and what we don’t, about “Project Freedom.”

What is ‘Project Freedom’?

Iran has effectively blocked most commerce through the vital shipping route at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. Some 1,600 ships are believed to be stranded. In addition, the U.S. Navy has imposed a blockade on ships going to or from Iran.

Mr. Trump said in a social media post on Sunday that the United States would guide ships “safely out of these restricted Waterways,” which he described as a “humanitarian gesture.” He warned that any interference would be dealt with “forcefully.”

But he said nothing about lifting the U.S. blockade. And he did not make clear on Sunday what it would mean for the United States to “guide” ships.

U.S. Central Command indicated that it would coordinate safe traffic among the ships but not directly escort any through the strait. “U.S. military support to Project Freedom will include guided-missile destroyers, over 100 land and sea-based aircraft, multi-domain unmanned platforms, and 15,000 service members,” it said.

Have any ships gotten through the strait?

Only a few.

Four ships went through on Monday, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday that two commercial vessels had done so under U.S. military escort. (Before the war, around 130 vessels made the passage daily.)

Maersk, the Danish shipping giant, said a U.S.-flagged vehicle carrier operated by one of its subsidiaries had gone through the strait under the protection of the U.S. military. It was unclear what route the vessel took and how the U.S. Navy had helped its passage.

American forces on Monday shot down cruise missiles and drones and destroyed six Iranian speedboats that were threatening vessels that the U.S. Navy was guiding through the strait, according to U.S. Central Command.

No ships had gone through on Tuesday as of early evening, according to Kpler, a global maritime data company.

Is the cease-fire holding?

It’s not clear.

The Emirati authorities blamed Iran for attacks on a major oil port and an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz that injured three people. They were the first such attacks in the U.A.E. since the truce began four weeks ago. And South Korea said a Korean cargo ship caught fire after an explosion in the same area, although it did not say the vessel had been attacked.

Iran did not officially confirm or deny that it had resumed attacks. A senior Iranian military official denied on state media that its boats had been sunk.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s top negotiator in the stumbling peace negotiations, said in a social media post on Tuesday that American actions had endangered shipping through the strait. He warned of an escalation and accused the United States of violating the cease-fire.

In an interview with a conservative radio host, Hugh Hewitt, that aired on Monday, Mr. Trump declined to say whether the cease-fire was over. Mr. Hegseth on Tuesday characterized U.S. efforts to help ships through the strait as defensive and temporary and emphasized that the cease-fire was holding.

Is ‘Project Freedom’ working?

There’s no straightforward answer yet.

Even though a few ships got through, the violence has threatened the fragile truce. And Iran is not on board. “Project Freedom is Project Deadlock,” the foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said in a social media post.

Ali Abdollahi, a top Iranian military commander, warned “all commercial ships and oil tankers to refrain from any attempt to transit without coordination with the armed forces,” according to Iranian state media.

All of that worries shipping companies.

They have been reluctant to send vessels through the strait, and some said the U.S. offer was not enough to persuade them to make the trip. The companies say Iran needs to be part of any plan to move large numbers of vessels through the waterway.

Maersk, a Danish company, said in a statement that the vessel, the Alliance Fairfax, transited the waterway under the protection of the U.S. military.

“Maersk extends its gratitude to the U.S. military for its professionalism and effective coordination in making this operation possible,” the company said. The transit was completed without incident, and all crew members were safe, the statement said.

President Trump on Sunday announced that the United States would guide stranded ships out of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital trading route for oil and gas, adding that any interference would be dealt with “forcefully.”

U.S. forces on Monday shot down cruise missiles and drones and destroyed six Iranian speedboats that threatened vessels the U.S. Navy was guiding through the strait, according to U.S. Central Command. The global oil price jumped over 5 percent and stock markets tumbled.

By Tuesday, the situation in the strait appeared to be at a standstill. Oil prices traded lower but were above their level before the mayhem on Monday.

No ships had transited the strait on Tuesday, according to the latest data from Kpler, a global maritime data company. Before the war, about 130 vessels passed through the strait each day. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, 137 ships transited the strait from April 13 — when the United States began its blockade — through May 1. Others may have slipped out undetected by turning their transponders off.

Jack Kennedy, head of Middle East and North Africa country risk at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said the U.S. military in the coming days was likely to expand the number of its vessels dedicated to helping ships transit the strait.

But even so, most vessels may not feel safe enough to leave. “Iran still retains capacity to deter most transit through the strait with its asymmetric military capabilities,” Mr. Kennedy said.

Maersk said that the U.S. military had recently contacted the company and offered the opportunity for the vessel to exit the Persian Gulf under its protection.

The Alliance Fairfax, a ship used to carry vehicles, was “accompanied by U.S. military assets” when it left the Persian Gulf, according to Maersk. A security plan for the journey was put together in coordination with the U.S. military, the company said.

It was unclear what route the Maersk vessel took through the strait and how the U.S. Navy had assisted the ship’s passage. A spokesman for Maersk did not respond to questions about details of the vessel’s passage.

Separately, the U.S. Central Command said on Monday that two commercial ships operating under the American flag had passed through the waterway. The circumstances of the second ship were not immediately known.

While the United States has vowed to help tankers navigate the Strait of Hormuz, some companies have said that conditions are still too unsafe for them to attempt to pass the waterway, particularly as Iran has reiterated a warning that ships should not attempt to pass without approval from its navy.

It remained unclear whether the attacks meant that the cease-fire had collapsed and the war had resumed. But Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Tuesday that any attacks were “all below the threshold of restarting major combat operations at this point.”

At the same time, the United States was pushing China to help pressure Iran to reopen the strait, through which tankers typically carry as much as one-fifth of the world’s oil supply. Investors and analysts are focused on the continued disruption to shipping in the strait.

Oil prices retreat.

• The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, declined 4 percent to $109.87 a barrel.

• West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, fell 3.9 percent to $102.27 a barrel.

Stocks hit record high.

• The S&P 500 rose 0.8 percent on Tuesday, notching a fresh record high, after closing about 0.4 percent lower on Monday.

• Stocks in Asia, where countries import vast quantities of oil and gas, were largely flat. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell about 1 percent. Markets were closed in China, Japan and South Korea for a holiday.

• In Europe, stocks were mixed. The Stoxx 600, a broad index that tracks the region’s largest companies, and the DAX in Germany ticked higher, erasing earlier losses. The FTSE 100 in Britain fell more than 1 percent.

Gasoline prices continue to climb.

• Gas prices rose again on Tuesday, jumping to a national average of $4.48 a gallon, according to the AAA motor club. The increase has raised the cost for drivers by 50 percent since the war began.

• Gas prices don’t move in lock step with crude, usually trailing increases or drops by a few days.

• The average price of diesel rose to $5.66 on Monday, up 51 percent since the start of the war.

How High Are Gas Prices Where You Live?

Here is a county-level look at where drivers are facing the highest costs.

What they are saying: Inflation worries rise.

• Investors have faced a flurry of headlines, which continue to drive the market, Deutsche Bank analysts wrote in a research note on Tuesday, adding that the increased tension in the Persian Gulf and rise in oil prices have reignited concerns about inflationary pressures.

• “Global market sentiment has made a cautious start to the week, with renewed attacks in the Gulf casting doubt on the state of the four-week-old cease-fire between the U.S. and Iran as both the sides look to exert influence over the Strait of Hormuz,” they wrote.

   

But looming over it all was a war abroad that Mr. Trump had begun, and whose economic impact is compounding cost-of-living concerns among Americans, many of whom increasingly say their economic reality has worsened under his tenure.

Mr. Trump’s comments on Monday created a sharp contrast with the economic reality outside Washington, as rising energy prices hammer families and businesses alike.

With talks between the United States and Iran at a standstill, the price of Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, reached about $114 per barrel by Monday evening. The spike came at a moment of great uncertainty about the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, a key thoroughfare for the world’s oil.

Mr. Trump, who often focuses on economic indicators like the stock market that have very little impact on the bottom line for most Americans, has brushed off the pain caused by his own policies with promises that it is temporary. During the event on Monday, he sought to downplay the rising cost of energy, saying that it had been projected to rise much more, and that he saw it “going down very substantially” soon.

But for Americans, relief remained out of reach. The average cost of a gallon of gas topped $4.45 nationwide, according to AAA, marking an increase of more than a dollar compared with last year. Soaring even higher was the cost of diesel, which shot above $5.64 a gallon, or a roughly $2 increase from this time in 2025. This increases the cost of transporting products, which is likely to result in higher prices for consumers.

Also at Monday’s event, Mr. Trump offered a new defense of one of his most consequential policies, slashing the federal work force, which resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs. He boasted that private sector jobs had been created in their place, and suggested that federal workers were grateful to him for firing them.

“And I feel sorry for everyone, you know, it’s a hard thing to do,” he said. “Many of those people voted for me, but now they like me because they went out, they got private sector jobs that they like better and is paying them sometimes two or three times more money.”

With the midterm elections just months away, Mr. Trump has struggled to hone an economic message, despite pleas from Republicans to focus on how his policies are improving the lives of everyday Americans and pledges from his aides that he would travel the country doing just that.

Mr. Trump has faced accusations from some in his “America First” base that he is too focused on foreign policy and global conflicts and not enough on the kitchen-table issues that he campaigned on addressing, such as the cost of living and grocery and gas prices.

But delivering a focused message on the economy is not much in Mr. Trump’s style.

During the more than one-hour speech on Monday, Mr. Trump veered off into other topics, including criticizing former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., boasting about passing cognitive tests and complaining about polls and media coverage. He also offered a lengthy account of how he had decided to renovate the reflecting pool at the National Mall.

The event featured other speakers who praised Mr. Trump, including Rick Harrison of the reality television show “Pawn Stars” and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who praised his popularity in Venezuela after the United States removed its president.

Last Friday, Mr. Trump delivered another economic speech at The Villages in Florida, where he was billed to speak about how his tax and domestic policy legislation would help older Americans who may be relying on Social Security.

But for much of the roughly 1.5-hour speech, Mr. Trump’s tax policies seemed to be an afterthought.

Standing in front of hundreds from a retirement community in a school gymnasium, Mr. Trump criticized the staff of the event for not ensuring his microphone volume was loud enough. He launched into a xenophobic tirade against the Somali community in the United States, mocked a transgender weight lifter and brought Dr. Phil McGraw, the talk show host, onstage to speak.

He blamed his predecessors for high prices and inflation, and once again dismissed the issue of affordability, which he has called a “hoax.”

“And the Democrats start screaming, ‘affordability, affordability’ — they’re the ones that caused the problem,” Mr. Trump said.

Mr. Trump did touch on his domestic policies, pledging to defend Social Security and Medicare. But he also acknowledged that those issues did not have his full attention. He assured the crowd of supporters that Dr. Mehmet Oz, Mr. Trump’s administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, knew more about “Medicaid, Medicare, medical crap than any human being.”

Mr. Trump said Dr. Oz was telling him about the programs on the way to The Villages, making it “the most boring trip I’ve ever made.”

“I said, ‘You work out the details,’ but I did say, ‘Give them the max,’” Mr. Trump said. “That’s all I care about.”

Tony Romm contributed reporting.

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Dr. Mehmet Oz, right, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, was present at Mr. Trump’s event in The Villages, Fla. The talk show host Dr. Phil McGraw, in a cream jacket, is behind them.Credit...Tom Brenner for The New York Times