A security and defence expert dubbed the war in Iran a ‘defeat’ for Trump and said Tehran ‘called his bluff’ as the US President pauses ‘Project Freedom’ just two days after it started
Iran is “lose-lose” for Donald Trump as Tehran “called his bluff” on war and Project Freedom, a defence expert has claimed.
The US President announced that he is pausing “Project Freedom”, which aimed to guide stranded ships through the Strait of Hormuz while Iran continues to effectively block the major waterway. Trump launched his initiative to help countries and companies “that have done absolutely nothing wrong” while Iran continued to demand no ships pass without authorisation from Tehran.
The plan was announced on Sunday but just two days later Trump said he was going to pause it “for a short period of time” to see whether the US and Iran could strike a deal. He then changed tack again, issuing more threats to Tehran.
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Professor Anthony Glees, a security and defence expert at the University of Buckingham, told the Mirror that he is “in no doubt that Trump’s Iran project is melting like the snow in summer”.
Despite Trump suggesting an end to his war in Iran is near, Tehran mocked the abrupt decision and dubbed it a “retreat” after his “continued failures” to use the US Navy to reopen the waterway.
Iran’s state-run media said: “Following Iran’s firm positions and warnings, and the failure of the United States to achieve its objectives in the so-called ‘Freedom Project’, Trump announced the suspension of this project.”
A proposed one-page memorandum could bring the war to an end if Iran agrees to pause its nuclear enrichment programme. Iran’s Navy said it would reopen the Strait of Hormuz after the “threats from aggressors” ends.
Amid the unclear state of this ongoing war, Professor Glees revealed that despite the US achieving some of its objectives the war overall has been a “defeat” for Trump.
The defence expert said: “Whilst there’s no reason to doubt that the US forces have destroyed much of Iran’s military and naval capability, they’ve self-evidently not managed to wipe out the political leadership nor the Revolutionary Guard Corps. And crucially they’ve not taken out Iran’s drone and missile arsenal.
“What’s more between them Trump and Netanyahu have succeeded in closing the Strait of Hormuz which had been open. It is this that I think spells defeat for Trump. He is crippling the global economy, Australia and New Zealand as well as swathes of South East Asia are already starved of oil & on the brink of severe economic contraction. We in western Europe are just a few steps behind.”
Professor Glees also shared his thoughts on how the Trump “grandiose nonsense” could force the President to end his war. He added: “This is why I believe Trump is floundering, why JD Vance and Marco Rubio are now dissociating themselves so patently from his ridiculously grandiose nonsense.
“He doesn’t want to admit Iran has called his bluff. He can’t start fighting again because he knows that even if he did it wouldn’t reopen the Strait.”
Professor Glees added there are “no quick negotiations with Iran” but Trump wanted a “quick result”, even revealing how Europe could get involved to help both the US and itself.
He told the Mirror: “It’s either to admit he’s lost or to try to get the European powers involved in doing a deal. It’s lose-lose for him. But it could be a win-win for Europe. We help him extricate himself and we prove the USA needs us.”
After revealing the pause to Project Freedom, Trump later took to Truth Social to threat that Iran that if it didn’t agree to a peace deal then bombing would resume “at a much higher level and intensity”.
Trump said: “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.”
