00:26Right now, somewhere in the Persian Gulf
00:29a Greek supertanker carrying 2 million barrels of crude oil is finally moving again,
00:36guided by the U.S. Navy through one of the most dangerous stretches of water on the planet.
00:41And it's only the beginning.
00:43The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow chokepoint between Iran and Oman,
00:48handles about 20% of all the world's oil and a quarter of its liquefied natural gas.
00:54When it flows, global energy flows.
00:57When it doesn't, you feel it at the pump, in factories, in power grids worldwide.
01:03Since the U.S.-Iran conflict erupted earlier this year,
01:07Iran has mined, blockaded, and struck vessels in the region.
01:12Hundreds of ships have been stranded, traffic has nearly stopped,
01:16energy prices have spiked, and the world has been watching, waiting.
01:20The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that the U.S. Navy has quietly restarted Project Freedom,
01:28the operation designed to escort civilian vessels through the strait.
01:32Destroyers, aircraft, drones, all positioned to get about a dozen ships,
01:38tankers, and container vessels safely across in the coming days.
01:42This isn't the first attempt.
01:44Back in early May, the Navy launched this same operation,
01:48and within days, major clashes broke out between U.S. and Iranian forces.
01:53The operation was paused.
01:55Cease-fire talks began.
01:57But here's the thing.
01:58Those talks, they're not going well.
02:01And last night's clashes in the strait?
02:03Officials have now confirmed they're directly tied to Project Freedom resuming.
02:08Iran has already struck an oil tanker near Oman this week.
02:12It views the U.S. escort mission as a direct provocation.
02:16The U.S. calls it protecting neutral commerce.
02:19Both sides are drawing very different lines in the same, very narrow waterway.
02:25The signal being sent by restarting Project Freedom is hard to misread.
02:30The U.S. is signaling that diplomacy may be running out of road.
02:34When you stop waiting for a deal and start moving ships, that's a message.
02:39A dozen ships in the next few days, a Greek supertanker already on its way to India,
02:45and a strait that the entire world depends on sitting on a knife's edge.
02:51Whether Project Freedom holds or sparks the next escalation could shape energy markets,
02:57regional alliances, and the trajectory of this conflict for months to come.
03:02We'll be watching every development as it breaks.
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