The US “Project Freedom” – announced with great fanfare and now halted after less than 48 hours – was unlikely to ever be the panacea that unblocked the Strait of Hormuz.
It was framed by President Donald Trump as “a humanitarian gesture” to help release the estimated 20,000 seafarers trapped inside the Gulf as a result of the double blockade by the US and Iran.
But Iran viewed it as a violation of the 8 April ceasefire agreement and it attacked the first escorted transit by the US Navy of two US merchant vessels. The US military says its helicopters destroyed six Iranian fast boats in response; Iran denied this.
Getting two ships through the strait is – forgive the pun – just a drop in the ocean.
In normal times, before this war began, around 140 vessels a day were passing through the strait.
Not even the huge and powerful US Navy has the capacity to escort that number so this would have been primarily a coordination and overwatch operation.
But there is no getting round the fact that the IRGC Navy retains enough drones, missiles, mines and fast boats to threaten any vessel passing its coastline.
So without a deal with Tehran, the Strait of Hormuz will remain a dangerous place to transit.