US President Donald Trump alleged that Iran has fired on South Korean cargo ships and other targets, in return urging Seoul to participate in a mission against Iran to reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
Trump’s remarks came amid the launch of a US Operation on Monday called ‘Project Freedom’, to secure commercial vessels in the strait, a crucial route for oil, fertiliser and other commodities, stuck due to the ongoing war against Iran with the US-Israel, out of the waterway.
“Iran has taken some shots at unrelated Nations with respect to the Ship Movement, PROJECT FREEDOM, including a South Korean Cargo Ship. Perhaps it’s time for South Korea to come and join the mission!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“We’ve shot down seven small Boats or, as they like to call them, ‘fast’ Boats. It’s all they have left. Other than the South Korean Ship, there has been, at this moment, no damage going through the Strait,” he added.
Trump commented after Seoul’s foreign ministry announced that an explosion took place on a Panama-flagged ship, a major South Korean shipping firm operated by HMM Co, passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The cause of the blast is under investigation, according to the Yonhap news agency.
The ship carrying 24 crew members, including six South Korean and 18 foreign nationals, anchored near the United Arab Emirates within the strait. No casualties were reported.
Warning to Iran and Call for Talks
As Iran continues to push back in the waterway, Trump cautioned over a phone interview with Fox News that Iranian forces would be ‘blown off the face of the Earth’ if they target US vessels in the strait. He still emphasised the need for peace talks with Iran, asserting that Iranian negotiators were ‘far more malleable’.
President Trump has renewed pressure on South Korea to join a US-led maritime mission in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route that carries roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supply and underpins the country’s energy security.
The appeal adds to mounting strain on Seoul, which depends heavily on the waterway for imports.
Last month, Trump criticised South Korea as ‘not helpful’, despite the United States maintaining troops ‘in harm’s way’ in the country, which he emphasised lies close to North Korea and its nuclear arsenal.
Washington has also taken a harder line with European allies, seen as reluctant to support its stance on Iran or contribute naval assets to secure the strait.
The Pentagon has announced plans to withdraw around 5,000 troops from Germany, while Trump said he intends to raise tariffs on vehicles from the European Union to 25 per cent.
Tensions escalated further after an explosion struck a Korea-linked vessel, coinciding with the launch of a new US operation aimed at restoring freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively constrained amid the broader Middle East conflict.
CENTCOM Details Operation
Speaking during a phone briefing, Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command, said US forces had destroyed six Iranian small boats and intercepted cruise missiles and drones as the mission, dubbed Project Freedom, got underway, according to Reuters.
The developments have cast doubt on an already fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran.
CENTCOM said the operation will involve guided-missile destroyers, more than 100 aircraft across land and sea, unmanned systems, and approximately 15,000 personnel.
Under Project Freedom, the US Navy is assisting commercial vessels transiting the strait by providing guidance to avoid mines and remaining ready to respond to potential Iranian attacks, according to Axios.
US officials, however, said there are no current plans to provide full naval escorts.
Earlier in the day, CENTCOM said two US-flagged merchant ships had safely passed through the strait and continued their journeys. It added that guided-missile destroyers are now operating in the Arabian Gulf after transiting the waterway in support of the mission.
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