On Sunday, May 3, 2026, Trump announced on Truth Social that the U.S. military would begin guiding commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz starting Monday. The mission launched the following morning, May 4. Two American-flagged merchant ships 'successfully transited' the strait, the U.S. military said. Hundreds of vessels have been stuck in or around the strait since the U.S. naval blockade began in March, contributing to the global oil-supply shock that pushed Brent crude past $125 a barrel and U.S. gas to $4.39 a gallon.
Iran's response was immediate. Senior Iranian official Ebrahim Azizi warned that any U.S. interference in the Strait of Hormuz would be considered a violation of the ceasefire that has been nominally in place since April 7. Iran's framing — that escorting commercial ships through a strait the U.S. itself blockaded counts as 'interference' — sets up a confrontation in which the U.S. naval mission could trigger renewed direct combat. The April 7 ceasefire was the basis on which Trump told Congress over the weekend that the War Powers Resolution clock had reset and that he no longer needed congressional authorization for continued operations.
The announcement came alongside a White House X-account post that captured the administration's tonal posture during the weekend: a Truth Social-style image of Trump holding playing cards from the Uno game, captioned 'I have all the cards.' On May 4, the parallel Iran-Israel front intensified — the UAE said it intercepted incoming missiles, and a drone strike sparked a fire at an Emirati oil facility. The 'guide-the-ships' mission is being launched into a regional environment in which U.S. allies are actively under fire and U.S. negotiators are publicly rejecting the only end-of-war proposal on the table.