Saudi Pressure Forced Trump to Pause Project Freedom

Saudi Arabia’s refusal to allow the United States to use Saudi airspace and a key Saudi air base for “Project Freedom” forced President Donald Trump to pause the U.S. operation to escort vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, according to an NBC News.

The episode, unfolding amid U.S.-Iran negotiations over a temporary end to the war and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, revealed a sharp rupture between Washington and one of its most important Gulf security partners.

While Trump publicly said the operation was being paused to allow diplomacy more time, NBC reported that the immediate pressure came from Riyadh, which objected to the way the mission was announced and then restricted U.S. military access needed to carry it out.

Two unnamed U.S. officials said Trump decided to pause the mission after Saudi Arabia suspended the U.S. military’s ability to use a Saudi base for the operation.

Project Freedom was designed as a U.S. military effort to reopen or secure passage through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow maritime chokepoint linking Gulf energy exports to global markets. Trump said on May 5 that the operation would be paused “for a short period” to see whether an agreement could be finalized and signed, while adding that the blockade would remain in force.

But the diplomatic explanation was only part of the story. Saudi officials were surprised and angered by Trump’s announcement that the United States would help escort ships through the strait. Riyadh then told Washington that it would deny permission for U.S. military aircraft to fly out of a Saudi base or through Saudi airspace for the mission.

Two U.S. officials, identified the facility as Prince Sultan Air Base, southeast of Riyadh. The report said Saudi Arabia informed the United States that American aircraft could not operate from the base or cross Saudi airspace in support of Project Freedom.

Trump tried to resolve the dispute in a call with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but the call failed to end the crisis, forcing the president to halt the effort in order to restore U.S. military access to strategically important airspace.

The operational stakes were high. U.S. military aircraft were expected to provide a defensive umbrella for ships attempting to leave the Strait of Hormuz. One U.S. official said that, because of the geography of the region, access to allied airspace is sometimes the only practical option for such operations. Without Saudi permission, the mission’s viability was severely weakened.

Saudi Arabia had previously allowed U.S. aircraft to operate from Prince Sultan Air Base during Washington’s earlier military campaign against Iran. The sudden Saudi refusal therefore represented not merely a technical objection, but a political signal: Riyadh was unwilling to be automatically folded into a U.S. military escalation that it believed had not been sufficiently coordinated with Gulf partners.

The White House rejected the implication that Gulf allies had been blindsided. A White House official told NBC that regional allies had been briefed in advance. But NBC also cited a Middle Eastern diplomat saying Washington did not coordinate the plan with Oman before Trump’s announcement, and that the U.S. “issued a statement — and then coordinated” afterward.

A Saudi official, also cited by NBC, pushed back against the idea that Riyadh had been simply surprised, saying events were moving quickly “in real time.” The same official said Saudi Arabia strongly supported Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts to mediate an agreement between Iran and the United States.

The United States and Iran were exploring a short-term memorandum to halt the war, stabilize shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, and open a 30-day window for broader negotiations. The emerging framework would not resolve the hardest disputes, including Iran’s nuclear program and regional alliances, but it could create space to reopen maritime traffic and reduce pressure on global energy markets.

Markets reacted quickly to hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough. Brent crude fell about 3 percent to around $98 a barrel after already tumbling nearly 8 percent the previous day, while global shares rose on expectations that supply disruptions might ease.