00:00The breaking news tonight, the old operation is over, the new one is on hold.
00:05We think that's what the administration announced just moments ago.
00:08John Berman here, in for Anderson, and just hours after his Secretary of State
00:12flat out said the initial mission against Iran, Epic Fury, was over,
00:17the President said the operation that replaced it, guiding ships in the Strait of Hormuz,
00:21Project Freedom, as it's called, is paused.
00:25And not surprisingly, the President announced this 180 online, quoting him now,
00:28based on the request of Pakistan and other countries, the tremendous military success
00:33that we have had during the campaign against the country of Iran, and additionally,
00:37the fact that great progress has been made toward a complete and final agreement
00:41with representatives of Iran, we have mutually agreed that while the blockade
00:46will remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom, the movement of ships
00:50to the Strait of Hormuz, will be paused for a short period of time
00:54to see whether or not the agreement can be finalized and signed.
00:58So those words landed just a short time ago, and they completely upended a day
01:03of singing the praises of, you guessed it, Project Freedom.
01:08This is a defensive operation, and what that means is very simple.
01:12There's no shooting unless we're shot at first.
01:15We're not attacking them, but if they're attacking us, or they're attacking a ship,
01:19you need to respond to that.
01:21This is defensive.
01:22So if you hear stories about attacks and launching of firing back and forth,
01:26it's not back and forth.
01:27We are only responding if attacked first.
01:30So this echoes similar language from the defense secretary earlier today,
01:34who was also asked point blank about yesterday's exchange of hostilities in and around the
01:39strait.
01:39Listen to him pivot away from the clashes and toward this new mission,
01:44which again, the president has just put on hold.
01:49The last 24 hours or so, Iran's fired at us.
01:52We fired at Iran.
01:53I'm just going to ask you more directly.
01:54Is the ceasefire over?
01:57No, the ceasefire is not over.
02:01Ultimately, this is a separate and distinct project,
02:03and we expected there would be some churn at the beginning, which happened.
02:10And we said we would defend and defend aggressively, and we absolutely have.
02:13Iran knows that.
02:14And ultimately, the president's going to make a decision whether anything were to escalate
02:19into a violation of a ceasefire.
02:21But certainly, we would urge Iran to be prudent in the actions that they take to keep that
02:26underneath this threshold.
02:27This is about the straits.
02:29This is about freedom of navigation.
02:31Which was the selling point.
02:33It would certainly be a good thing for much of the world, just not quite yet.
02:37And for reasons not yet clear, after a grand total of two ships made it through the strait
02:43under American protection yesterday, and apparently none today.
02:47In fact, shortly before the president's announcement, the British maritime intelligence firm,
02:51UKMTO, reported that another cargo vessel had been hit in the strait.
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