Perhaps we can call this A Tale of Two Trumps. One Donald Trump appeared to grasp the necessity of staring down an Iranian regime that has never honored an agreement. The other Donald Trump announced late yesterday that he had ordered the suspension of Project Freedom, a purely defensive effort to reopen an international waterway, on the off chance that Ahmad Vahidi might agree to negotiate on Pakistan’s terms:
Based on the request of Pakistan and other Countries, the tremendous Military Success that we have had during the Campaign against the Country of Iran and, additionally, the fact that Great Progress has been made toward a Complete and Final Agreement with Representatives of Iran, we have mutually agreed that, while the Blockade will remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom (The Movement of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz) will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed. President DONALD J. TRUMP
To call this puzzling is to engage in vast understatement. Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth had just rolled out Project Freedom yesterday morning. Hegseth and Joint Chiefs chair Gen. Dan Caine had emphasized repeatedly that the US Navy was limited to just reopening an international waterway that shouldn’t have been shut in the first place. Additionally, Iran had already agreed to allow for free sailing through the Strait of Hormuz as part of the current ceasefire agreement, which Vahidi had refused to honor.
Why would negotiations require the suspension of Project Freedom? That’s an unnecessary loan of leverage to the IRGC. Worse, it tacitly validates the idea that Iran has a legitimate claim to that international waterway. It makes Trump look like he’s in more need of an end to the war than Vahidi and the IRGC, which Vahidi clearly understands and is hyping up through regime propaganda. As I warned yesterday after Caine’s remarks, Vahidi and the radicals don’t “mistake” restraint for weakness; they see it explicitly as weakness. Suspending Project Freedom amplifies that impression even further.
Perhaps with that in mind, Trump decided to make his messaging a little more muscular this morning:
Assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is, perhaps, a big assumption, the already legendary Epic Fury will be at an end, and the highly effective Blockade will allow the Hormuz Strait to be OPEN TO ALL, including Iran. If they don’t agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP
Trump should insist that Iran honor the first agreement as a condition of negotiating for another, full stop. Anything less is weakness in the eyes of the enemy. And weakness creates more problems in negotiations, and especially in compliance, as we have seen for the last quarter-century with the Iranian regime.
Speaking of which, what exactly is in this mystery proposal? Axios reports that it’s a one-page offering that will trade frozen funds and sanctions for a verifiable end to Iran’s nuclear program. And that sounds … familiar:
The White House believes it’s getting close to an agreement with Iran on a one-page memorandum of understanding to end the war and set a framework for more detailed nuclear negotiations, according to two U.S. officials and two other sources briefed on the issue.
The big picture: The U.S. expects Iranian responses on several key points in the next 48 hours. Nothing has been agreed yet, but the sources said this was the closest the parties had been to an agreement since the war began.
- Among other provisions, the deal would involve Iran committing to a moratorium on nuclear enrichment, the U.S. agreeing to lift its sanctions and release billions in frozen Iranian funds, and both sides lifting restrictions around transit through the Strait of Hormuz.
- Many of the terms laid out in the memo would be contingent on a final agreement being reached, leaving the possibility of renewed war or an extended limbo in which the hot war has stopped but nothing is truly resolved.
Isn’t that just another version of Barack Obama’s JCPOA? Iran has been pushing this framework all along, including as late as last week, when Abbas Araghchi tried floating it to the Pakistanis as a way to avoid Trump’s threatened shock-and-awe campaign. This feeds into Vahidi’s messaging that Trump is more desperate for a deal than the regime, and that they can wait him out.
And according to an IRGC-run state media outlet, that’s apparently what Vahidi plans to do:
NEW: Iran’s Tasnim news agency says the U.S. memorandum to end the war includes clauses Tehran considers unacceptable.
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) May 6, 2026
Unfortunately, this is what happens when you signal “restraint” to a bloodthirsty military tyranny. The choices of the last 24 hours have been a serious mistake, but an easily recoverable one. It’s time to quit playing around with this regime and to deal with it on the only terms it understands: overwhelming power and destruction.
Update: As if to underscore my point:
IRGC navy in a new threat: Ships must get approval to cross the Strait of Hormuz or face being targeted. 1,500 vessels waiting. U.S. has paused escort operations for negotiations. pic.twitter.com/u9564CtQjL
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) May 6, 2026
This regime is not negotiating on the basis of good faith or “international law.” They intend to extend their hegemony over the entire region by any means necessary. Obama collaborated in that ambition with the JCPOA; Trump should absolutely refuse to follow suit.
Editor’s Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
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