Shipping bosses nervous over Trump plan to guide vessels from strait of Hormuz

US president gave no details on how operation would work as Iran says it will attack any armed force entering waterway

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The US has launched an operation to “guide” ships trapped in the Gulf by the Iran war through a southern route of the Strait of Hormuz, even as Tehran insisted that any such transits would have to be coordinated with its armed forces.

The scheme was announced as “Project Freedom” on Sunday night by Donald Trump on his social media page, where he portrayed it as a humanitarian gesture to help crews on hundreds of ships which have been unable to leave the Gulf since the war began.