--- title: "Iran War Update: 'Love Taps,' Project Freedom, and a Secret Israeli Base in Iraq" description: "On the 28th of February, almost any word would have fit the war that was bearing down on Iran: devastating, chaotic, relentless, catastrophic. War tends to invite hyperbole, and this one offered no shortage of material. But there is one phrase that no observer would have reached for to describe any single action inside it: a \"love tap.\" War is not loving. And a tap is the single greatest understatement yet attached to the act of dropping hundreds, sometimes thousands, of kilograms of munitions on an adversary.\n\nYet that was precisely the phrase President Donald Trump chose, in a recent interview with ABC, to describe a series of American strikes on Iranian military facilities late last week. Those strikes had observers bracing for a return to full-scale war. Trump moved quickly to reassure the world that the ceasefire still held, while Tehran moved just as quickly to remind its regional neighbors that it was watching them closely, especially those it believed had helped Washington launch the attacks.\n\nThe testing of the ceasefire is one of the largest stories of the past week. But what triggered the strikes, and what has unfolded since, matter every bit as much, particularly as oil prices climb again, peace talks falter again, and the war looks ready to reignite at any moment.\n\nThis is an account of a ceasefire held together by little more than the absence of the next escalation, a war whose center of gravity keeps shifting from the Strait of Hormuz to the Iraqi desert to a summit table in Beijing.\n\n## Key Takeaways\n\n- Project Freedom, Trump's effort to escort stranded commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz with roughly 15,000 troops, destroyers, over 100 aircraft and drones, was paused in under 36 hours, partly because Saudi Arabia briefly denied the U.S. use of the Prince Sultan airbase and its airspace.\n- A draft one-page memorandum of understanding, under which Iran would forswear nuclear weapons and accept snap inspections in exchange for gradual sanctions relief, collapsed after Tehran demanded recognition of its control over the Strait of Hormuz, prompting Trump to call the response \"TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE.\"\n- The Wall Street Journal revealed Israel had built a secret military base in Iraq's western desert and shelled Iraqi forces in early March to prevent its discovery, killing one Iraqi soldier.\n- Washington forced Baghdad to reject Nouri al-Maliki as prime minister over his ties to Iran, installing the politically untested Ali al-Zaidi and raising questions across the region about Iraqi sovereignty.\n- In seven weeks, U.S. forces burned through at least 45% of their Precision Strike Missiles, at least 50% of their THAAD interceptors, and nearly 50% of their Patriot interceptors, the same stockpiles Washington would need in a fight with China.\n\n## Operation Epic Fury Is Over\n\nOn Tuesday, the 5th of May, during a White House briefing, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Operation Epic Fury was over because the United States had achieved its objectives. Rubio added that the White House would prefer to see a path to peace, and that President Trump specifically wanted a peace deal.\n\nThere was something else the administration badly wanted to see: ships moving freely through the Strait of Hormuz again, after container traffic had sunk to all-time lows. That ambition is why, the day before, Trump had launched Project Freedom, which he described as a \"humanitarian effort to rescue ships running low on essentials after more than two months trapped in the Persian Gulf.\"\n\nThe plan was straightforward. America would bring its military weight to bear, roughly 15,000 troops, guided-missile destroyers, more than 100 aircraft and a large complement of drones, to escort stranded commercial vessels through the strait and break the Iranian blockade.\n\n## Project Freedom Stalls in the Strait\n\nBy the end of Monday, the U.S. military said it had escorted two ships through the Strait of Hormuz. But the operation came under fire from Tehran almost immediately, with a South Korean vessel having to be towed to a nearby port after catching fire following an explosion.\n\nIran also escalated beyond the strait itself, launching drone and rocket attacks at targets in the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi said its air defenses engaged 19 Iranian missiles and drones, with the barrage causing a major fire at the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone, a facility built precisely to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.\n\nIn a briefing to reporters, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Iran that the U.S. still had the ability to reopen the conflict if needed. Yet less than 36 hours after Project Freedom began, Hegseth's boss announced that the operation would be paused to allow negotiations to proceed.\n\n## The Saudi Veto Behind the Pause\n\nThat was the official reason. According to a report by NBC News, it was not the full picture. The outlet reported that Gulf allies had been caught off guard after Trump announced Project Freedom on social media. Riyadh was reportedly angered enough that it told Washington it could not use the Prince Sultan airbase or Saudi Arabian airspace for the operation. The situation grew so tense that not even a call between Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman could break the impasse.\n\nIt is fair to ask why the U.S. needed Saudi airspace to safeguard the Strait of Hormuz when it has substantial assets in the region, including guided-missile destroyers that can operate from international waters. The answer is geography. An American official told NBC that Washington needed the cooperation of regional partners to use the airspace along their borders; the destroyers alone were not enough.\n\nPatrick Wintour, diplomatic editor at The Guardian, wrote that the episode indicated two things: Saudi Arabia's desire for a permanent end to the war, and Riyadh's fear that because Project Freedom lacked clear terms of engagement, it could spiral into a risky naval confrontation between Tehran and Washington. Riyadh later lifted its restrictions, but Project Freedom remained paused at the time of recording.\n\n## \"One Big Glow Coming Out of Iran\"\n\nThe pause did not bring calm, not in this ceasefire. After U.S. warships passed through the strait in a show of force, Iran loosed a barrage of missiles, drones, and small boats at them. The United States struck back at their points of origin. Those strikes were the \"love taps\" Trump described.\n\nWhat that phrasing obscured was a far more alarming statement. Asked whether the ceasefire was still on, Trump told reporters that if it were truly over, everyone would know. In his words: \"You won't have to know if there's no ceasefire... You're just going to have to look at one big glow coming out of Iran.\"\n\nThe threat, much like Trump's earlier warning to end Iranian civilization, sounded apocalyptic. But diplomacy appears to have been continuing in the background. According to several sources who spoke to Axios, by the 6th of May the White House believed it was close to a one-page memorandum of understanding with Iran that would end the war and frame more detailed talks to follow.\n\n## The Memorandum That Fell Apart\n\nUnder the draft MOU, Iran would commit to never seeking a nuclear weapon, accept a moratorium on nuclear enrichment, and agree to an enhanced inspections regime that included snap inspections by UN inspectors. In return, Washington would agree to a gradual and conditional lifting of sanctions and the release of billions of dollars in Iranian funds frozen around the world.\n\nAfter a few days of internal deliberation, the Iranian regime effectively threw the plan out and floated its own terms. The IRGC-linked Tasnim news outlet reported that Tehran wanted the lifting of sanctions, an end to fighting on all fronts, and recognition of Iran's control over the Strait of Hormuz. Tasnim framed the response as a rejection of Washington's proposal, characterizing the American offer as a demand for surrender.\n\nTrump was livid. On Truth Social he wrote: \"I have just read the response from Iran's so-called 'Representatives.' I don't like it, TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!\"\n\nThat leaves the situation, at the time of recording, in limbo. Both sides sit so far apart that a deal seems for all practical purposes unreachable. The open question is whether more negotiations will only entrench both parties further, or whether the war resumes in earnest. The Iran War may be drifting out of the headlines, but the crisis and its knock-on effects are far from over.\n\n## A Secret Israeli Base in the Iraqi Desert\n\nOn the 9th of May, the Wall Street Journal published a bombshell report: Israel had built a secret military base in the Iraqi desert shortly before the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran began. The installation sat in Iraq's western desert, a vast and sparsely populated region that U.S. Special Forces had previously used in operations against Saddam Hussein in 1991 and 2003.\n\nAccording to the Journal, the base housed Israeli special forces and served as a logistics hub for the Israeli Air Force. It also included search-and-rescue teams positioned to respond if any Israeli pilots were shot down during operations over Iran.\n\nThe existence of the base is only half the story. The more striking half is that it was nearly discovered in early March, and Israel had to shell Iraqi forces to keep it hidden. Iraqi state media said a local shepherd reported unusual military activity in the area, including helicopter flights, and the Iraqi military sent troops to investigate. Those troops came under intense fire, including airstrikes, that killed one soldier and wounded two others. More forces deployed to the area, and according to Iraqi Lieutenant General Qais al-Muhammadawi, deputy commander of the Joint Operations Command, they found evidence that military forces had been present.\n\n## Why Baghdad Is Furious\n\nAl-Muhammadawi told Iraqi state media that the operation had been reckless and carried out without coordination or approval. Beyond harsh words on state television, Baghdad lodged a complaint with the UN, blaming the attack on America. While Washington was aware of the base, a source told the Journal that it was not involved in the attack.\n\nTwo caveats temper the drama. First, during a war such operations are not unusual. Regular viewers will recall that when two American troops were downed in Iran, Washington set up an airfield deep inside Iranian territory to use as a forward operating base. Second, this is not the first time Jerusalem has moved against Baghdad; according to the Jerusalem Post, before the Israel-Hamas war the IDF launched limited strikes on Iranian forces trying to use Iraqi territory to attack Israel.\n\nWith those caveats in mind, the incident should not have been a major event. It became one because of its potential impact on Israeli-Iraqi relations. Those relations were never good. Israel and Iraq remain technically at war, as they have since 1948, and Iraq does not recognize Israel. The relationship is best described as frosty, but crucially it was not getting markedly worse, which is sometimes the best outcome available. Building a secret base on Iraqi soil and then killing an Iraqi soldier to protect it will actively make things worse.\n\n## A Prime Minister Chosen in Washington\n\nAccording to Seth J. Frantzman, senior Middle East correspondent at the Jerusalem Post, Iraqi media have been swept up by the report. It landed at a particularly sensitive moment, with Baghdad in the middle of approving a new government after finally settling on Ali al-Zaidi, a businessman with no political profile before this appointment, as prime minister.\n\nAl-Zaidi was chosen after a sustained pressure campaign from Washington, which had rejected Baghdad's initial choice, Nouri al-Maliki, with Trump threatening to stop supporting Iraq if al-Maliki took office. Al-Maliki had previously served two terms as Iraqi prime minister, and according to Victoria Taylor, director of the Iraq Initiative at the Atlantic Council's Middle East program, Washington rejected him over his close ties to Iran.\n\nThe fact that Iraq could not select its own prime minister without Washington's approval, alongside a secret Israeli base that Jerusalem killed to protect, may be read across the wider Middle East as violations of Iraqi sovereignty. As Frantzman put it: \"This report could feed distrust of the US, as Iraq and others reading the Arabic report in the region may see this as the US enabling a violation of Iraqi sovereignty. In a sensitive time, when some Gulf states are also concerned about the conflict with Iran, this could have repercussions.\"\n\n## The Gulf Recalculates Its Loyalties\n\nWhether the question of Iraqi sovereignty reshapes Washington's, and by extension Jerusalem's, relationship with Gulf countries remains to be seen. But Saudi Arabia's unwillingness to let the U.S. use its bases and airspace for Project Freedom, even though those rights were later restored, is an indicator that all is not well in the region.\n\nHow the war ultimately ends will be a major determinant of Washington's relationship with the Gulf states. Senior Gulf officials told the Wall Street Journal they feared that any deal to end the war would focus more on the nuclear question, which is primarily a concern for the U.S. and Israel, than on Tehran's missiles and proxy network.\n\nIf the Trump administration can thread the needle and secure a deal that addresses the concerns of Washington, the Gulf, and Israel, an extremely tall order, then Washington can salvage its credibility. If it instead prioritizes the nuclear question and sidelines the Gulf's concerns, the Gulf may decide it is time to look beyond Washington for a security partner. There are already small signs of this: Gulf capitals have struck deals with Ukraine for interceptor drones against the Trump administration's wishes. What larger steps might look like is anyone's guess.\n\n## China's Quiet Push for Peace\n\nAttention then turns from the Middle East to China, and a story with wide-reaching implications for the Iran War. On Wednesday, the 13th of May, Trump was set to arrive in China for a bilateral meeting with Xi Jinping, where the two presidents would discuss a wide range of issues, including this war.\n\nThe timing is delicate. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused China of \"funding the largest state sponsor of terrorism\" by buying 90% of Iran's energy. Washington has gone beyond accusations: it imposed sanctions on three Chinese firms for providing Iran with satellite imagery used in strikes against American targets, and earlier sanctioned five Chinese refiners over their ties to Iran. China ordered companies to ignore the American sanctions, calling them an unlawful restriction of trade and a breach of international norms.\n\nBeyond oil revenue and satellite images, China, according to an investigation by The Telegraph, has supplied Tehran with chemicals to fuel its ballistic missiles. Beijing has also vetoed efforts at the UN Security Council to condemn Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.\n\n## Why Beijing Wants the War to End\n\nGiven all that help, it would be tempting to conclude that China is propping up Iran to bleed the United States. The case grows stronger still on the numbers. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, America has been burning through its stockpiles of strategic missile interceptors, the very munitions it would need in a fight against Beijing, at an alarming rate. In just seven weeks of war, Washington has used at least 45% of its Precision Strike Missiles, at least 50% of its THAAD missiles used to intercept ballistic threats, and almost 50% of its Patriot air defense interceptors. China, meanwhile, is gathering extensive data on how American forces operate, what they are vulnerable to, and what would work against them in a war.\n\nFor those reasons alone, Beijing might be expected to relish a long kinetic war that bogs down Tehran's adversary. Yet China has been quietly pushing for peace. According to the Associated Press, Beijing has been highly active behind the scenes, pressing Iran toward a diplomatic solution. Trump himself said he believed China urged Iran to negotiate the ceasefire now in place. Diplomatic sources told the AP it was likely Beijing used its economic leverage, the fact that it buys 90% of Iran's fuel, to force Tehran to the table, a claim China has not confirmed because, per Yaqi Li of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, doing so would make it appear part of a U.S.-led security framework.\n\nChina's motives are not altruistic. Because the global economy is so interlinked, shockwaves from a closed Strait of Hormuz still reach China even as it imports some Iranian oil. Beijing also has growing economic ties across the region, so the longer the war drags on, the more it damages China's investments and trade relationships in the Gulf.\n\n## The Summit That Could Decide the War\n\nA week before Trump's visit, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing, in his first trip to China since the war began. Araghchi called China a great friend of Iran, while Wang called for reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending all hostilities. It is against this backdrop that Trump travels to China.\n\nHow the talks will play out is not yet known. But a senior administration official told the press that Trump could pressure China to in turn pressure Iran into a deal. He may not need to push hard. As the Wall Street Journal noted, if Xi can broker a peace deal, he will be widely hailed as \"a global statesman who swooped in at the precipice of a possible military escalation.\" That kind of diplomatic prize may be worth more to Beijing than the satisfaction of watching America trapped in a drawn-out war with no exit strategy.\n\nWhatever unfolds in Beijing, and elsewhere across the rest of this war, the pieces are now in motion: a ceasefire that survives only by inertia, a sovereignty crisis spreading from Iraq into the Gulf, and a Chinese hand on the diplomatic scale. None of it has resolved, and all of it is still moving.\n\n## Frequently Asked Questions\n\n### What were the \"love taps\" President Trump referred to?\n\nAfter U.S. warships passed through the Strait of Hormuz in a show of force, Iran sent a barrage of missiles, drones, and small boats at them. The United States struck back at the points of origin, hitting Iranian military assets. Trump described those retaliatory strikes as \"love taps\" in an interview with ABC, while simultaneously warning that a breakdown of the ceasefire would produce \"one big glow coming out of Iran.\"\n\n### What was Project Freedom and why was it paused?\n\nProject Freedom was Trump's operation to escort stranded commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz using roughly 15,000 troops, guided-missile destroyers, more than 100 aircraft, and drones. It was paused less than 36 hours after it began. The official reason was to allow negotiations to proceed, but NBC News reported that Saudi Arabia, angered at being caught off guard, had denied the U.S. use of the Prince Sultan airbase and its airspace—cooperation Washington needed because destroyers alone were not enough to cover the geographic requirements of the operation.\n\n### Why did the proposed memorandum of understanding with Iran collapse?\n\nThe draft one-page MOU would have had Iran forswear nuclear weapons, accept a moratorium on enrichment, and allow snap UN inspections, in exchange for gradual, conditional sanctions relief and the release of frozen Iranian funds. Iran rejected it and countered with demands for full sanctions relief, an end to fighting on all fronts, and recognition of its control over the Strait of Hormuz. Trump called the response \"TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE\" on Truth Social.\n\n### What did the Wall Street Journal report about a secret Israeli base in Iraq?\n\nThe Journal reported that Israel built a secret military base in Iraq's western desert shortly before the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran began. It housed Israeli special forces, served as a logistics hub for the Israeli Air Force, and included search-and-rescue teams for downed pilots. When a local shepherd's report prompted Iraqi troops to investigate in early March, they came under intense fire including airstrikes, killing one Iraqi soldier and wounding two others. Baghdad lodged a complaint with the UN, blaming the attack on America.\n\n### How has China factored into the Iran War and its potential resolution?\n\nChina buys roughly 90% of Iran's energy and, according to cited reporting, has supplied satellite imagery used in strikes on American targets and chemicals to fuel ballistic missiles, while vetoing UN efforts to condemn Iran's Hormuz blockade. Despite this, Beijing has quietly pressed Iran toward a diplomatic solution, and Trump credited China with helping secure the current ceasefire. Analysts believe Beijing used its economic leverage over Iranian oil to bring Tehran to the table, motivated in part by disruption to its own Gulf trade and investments.\n\n## Related Coverage\n\n- [America Has Bombed Iran: Strike Analysis, Targets, and What Comes Next](/articles/conflicts/america-has-bombed-iran-strike-analysis-targets-what-comes-next)\n\n## Sources\n\n1. https://time.com/article/2026/05/08/us-iran-war-strait-hormuz-attacks-cease-fire-trump-deal/\n2. https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-bunker-buster-an-expert-explains-what-the-us-dropped-on-iran-259508\n3. https://x.com/iribnews_irib/status/2052500336401699116\n4. https://www.jpost.com/international/article-895236\n5. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/donald-trump-us-epic-fury-project-freedom-hormuz-b2971279.html\n6. https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/04/world/live-news/iran-war-hormuz-trump?post-id=cmory0h0d000s3b6ru57g3qpu\n7. https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Fujairah-in-Focus-as-Oil-Flows-Reroute-Around-Hormuz-Crisis.html\n8. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/06/trump-project-freedom-strait-of-hormuz-ships-iran-ceasefire\n9. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trumps-abrupt-u-turn-plan-re-open-strait-hormuz-came-backlash-allies-rcna343845\n10. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/07/trump-project-freedom-saudi-arabia-strait-of-hormuz\n11. https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-kuwait-lift-restrictions-on-u-s-military-access-to-bases-airspace-8504c830\n12. https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/07/politics/us-forces-strike-military-facilities-in-iran\n13. https://komonews.com/news/nation-world/one-big-glow-coming-out-of-iran-if-ceasefire-is-over-trump-military-nuclear-weapon-agreement-pakistan\n14. https://x.com/leventkemaI/status/2052613048444092835\n15. https://responsiblestatecraft.org/iran-trump-nuclear-weapons/\n16. http://www.axios.com/2026/05/06/iran-us-deal-one-page-memo\n17. https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/iran-seeks-guarantees-against-future-attacks-us-response-tasnim-reports\n18. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/11/iran-war-trump-negotiation-hormuz-nuclear-talks.html\n\n" url: https://warfronts.pub/article/iran-war-update-love-taps-project-freedom-secret-israeli-base.md canonical: https://warfronts.pub/article/iran-war-update-love-taps-project-freedom-secret-israeli-base datePublished: 2026-06-02 dateModified: 2026-06-02 author: - name: Simon Whistler url: https://warfronts.pub/author/simon-whistler publisher: Warfronts image: "https://media.warfronts.pub/cdn-cgi/image/width=1600,height=900,fit=cover,quality=80,format=auto/articles/hE3J-JVzCUs/hero.jpg" type: NewsArticle contentHash: 4f55ed45fce9c50b9bb80e1c2841102b7eb05ae4f3022854201e67c39bfd744f tokens: 5779 summaryUrl: https://warfronts.pub/article/iran-war-update-love-taps-project-freedom-secret-israeli-base.md.summary.md --- On the 28th of February, almost any word would have fit the war that was bearing down on Iran: devastating, chaotic, relentless, catastrophic. War tends to invite hyperbole, and this one offered no shortage of material. But there is one phrase that no observer would have reached for to describe any single action inside it: a "love tap." War is not loving. And a tap is the single greatest understatement yet attached to the act of dropping hundreds, sometimes thousands, of kilograms of munitions on an adversary. Yet that was precisely the phrase President Donald Trump chose, in a recent interview with ABC, to describe a series of American strikes on Iranian military facilities late last week. Those strikes had observers bracing for a return to full-scale war. Trump moved quickly to reassure the world that the ceasefire still held, while Tehran moved just as quickly to remind its regional neighbors that it was watching them closely, especially those it believed had helped Washington launch the attacks. The testing of the ceasefire is one of the largest stories of the past week. But what triggered the strikes, and what has unfolded since, matter every bit as much, particularly as oil prices climb again, peace talks falter again, and the war looks ready to reignite at any moment. This is an account of a ceasefire held together by little more than the absence of the next escalation, a war whose center of gravity keeps shifting from the Strait of Hormuz to the Iraqi desert to a summit table in Beijing. ## Key Takeaways - Project Freedom, Trump's effort to escort stranded commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz with roughly 15,000 troops, destroyers, over 100 aircraft and drones, was paused in under 36 hours, partly because Saudi Arabia briefly denied the U.S. use of the Prince Sultan airbase and its airspace. - A draft one-page memorandum of understanding, under which Iran would forswear nuclear weapons and accept snap inspections in exchange for gradual sanctions relief, collapsed after Tehran demanded recognition of its control over the Strait of Hormuz, prompting Trump to call the response "TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE." - The Wall Street Journal revealed Israel had built a secret military base in Iraq's western desert and shelled Iraqi forces in early March to prevent its discovery, killing one Iraqi soldier. - Washington forced Baghdad to reject Nouri al-Maliki as prime minister over his ties to Iran, installing the politically untested Ali al-Zaidi and raising questions across the region about Iraqi sovereignty. - In seven weeks, U.S. forces burned through at least 45% of their Precision Strike Missiles, at least 50% of their THAAD interceptors, and nearly 50% of their Patriot interceptors, the same stockpiles Washington would need in a fight with China. ## Operation Epic Fury Is Over On Tuesday, the 5th of May, during a White House briefing, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Operation Epic Fury was over because the United States had achieved its objectives. Rubio added that the White House would prefer to see a path to peace, and that President Trump specifically wanted a peace deal. There was something else the administration badly wanted to see: ships moving freely through the Strait of Hormuz again, after container traffic had sunk to all-time lows. That ambition is why, the day before, Trump had launched Project Freedom, which he described as a "humanitarian effort to rescue ships running low on essentials after more than two months trapped in the Persian Gulf." The plan was straightforward. America would bring its military weight to bear, roughly 15,000 troops, guided-missile destroyers, more than 100 aircraft and a large complement of drones, to escort stranded commercial vessels through the strait and break the Iranian blockade. ## Project Freedom Stalls in the Strait By the end of Monday, the U.S. military said it had escorted two ships through the Strait of Hormuz. But the operation came under fire from Tehran almost immediately, with a South Korean vessel having to be towed to a nearby port after catching fire following an explosion. Iran also escalated beyond the strait itself, launching drone and rocket attacks at targets in the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi said its air defenses engaged 19 Iranian missiles and drones, with the barrage causing a major fire at the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone, a facility built precisely to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. In a briefing to reporters, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Iran that the U.S. still had the ability to reopen the conflict if needed. Yet less than 36 hours after Project Freedom began, Hegseth's boss announced that the operation would be paused to allow negotiations to proceed. ## The Saudi Veto Behind the Pause That was the official reason. According to a report by NBC News, it was not the full picture. The outlet reported that Gulf allies had been caught off guard after Trump announced Project Freedom on social media. Riyadh was reportedly angered enough that it told Washington it could not use the Prince Sultan airbase or Saudi Arabian airspace for the operation. The situation grew so tense that not even a call between Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman could break the impasse. It is fair to ask why the U.S. needed Saudi airspace to safeguard the Strait of Hormuz when it has substantial assets in the region, including guided-missile destroyers that can operate from international waters. The answer is geography. An American official told NBC that Washington needed the cooperation of regional partners to use the airspace along their borders; the destroyers alone were not enough. Patrick Wintour, diplomatic editor at The Guardian, wrote that the episode indicated two things: Saudi Arabia's desire for a permanent end to the war, and Riyadh's fear that because Project Freedom lacked clear terms of engagement, it could spiral into a risky naval confrontation between Tehran and Washington. Riyadh later lifted its restrictions, but Project Freedom remained paused at the time of recording. ## "One Big Glow Coming Out of Iran" The pause did not bring calm, not in this ceasefire. After U.S. warships passed through the strait in a show of force, Iran loosed a barrage of missiles, drones, and small boats at them. The United States struck back at their points of origin. Those strikes were the "love taps" Trump described. What that phrasing obscured was a far more alarming statement. Asked whether the ceasefire was still on, Trump told reporters that if it were truly over, everyone would know. In his words: "You won't have to know if there's no ceasefire... You're just going to have to look at one big glow coming out of Iran." The threat, much like Trump's earlier warning to end Iranian civilization, sounded apocalyptic. But diplomacy appears to have been continuing in the background. According to several sources who spoke to Axios, by the 6th of May the White House believed it was close to a one-page memorandum of understanding with Iran that would end the war and frame more detailed talks to follow. ## The Memorandum That Fell Apart Under the draft MOU, Iran would commit to never seeking a nuclear weapon, accept a moratorium on nuclear enrichment, and agree to an enhanced inspections regime that included snap inspections by UN inspectors. In return, Washington would agree to a gradual and conditional lifting of sanctions and the release of billions of dollars in Iranian funds frozen around the world. After a few days of internal deliberation, the Iranian regime effectively threw the plan out and floated its own terms. The IRGC-linked Tasnim news outlet reported that Tehran wanted the lifting of sanctions, an end to fighting on all fronts, and recognition of Iran's control over the Strait of Hormuz. Tasnim framed the response as a rejection of Washington's proposal, characterizing the American offer as a demand for surrender. Trump was livid. On Truth Social he wrote: "I have just read the response from Iran's so-called 'Representatives.' I don't like it, TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!" That leaves the situation, at the time of recording, in limbo. Both sides sit so far apart that a deal seems for all practical purposes unreachable. The open question is whether more negotiations will only entrench both parties further, or whether the war resumes in earnest. The Iran War may be drifting out of the headlines, but the crisis and its knock-on effects are far from over. ## A Secret Israeli Base in the Iraqi Desert On the 9th of May, the Wall Street Journal published a bombshell report: Israel had built a secret military base in the Iraqi desert shortly before the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran began. The installation sat in Iraq's western desert, a vast and sparsely populated region that U.S. Special Forces had previously used in operations against Saddam Hussein in 1991 and 2003. According to the Journal, the base housed Israeli special forces and served as a logistics hub for the Israeli Air Force. It also included search-and-rescue teams positioned to respond if any Israeli pilots were shot down during operations over Iran. The existence of the base is only half the story. The more striking half is that it was nearly discovered in early March, and Israel had to shell Iraqi forces to keep it hidden. Iraqi state media said a local shepherd reported unusual military activity in the area, including helicopter flights, and the Iraqi military sent troops to investigate. Those troops came under intense fire, including airstrikes, that killed one soldier and wounded two others. More forces deployed to the area, and according to Iraqi Lieutenant General Qais al-Muhammadawi, deputy commander of the Joint Operations Command, they found evidence that military forces had been present. ## Why Baghdad Is Furious Al-Muhammadawi told Iraqi state media that the operation had been reckless and carried out without coordination or approval. Beyond harsh words on state television, Baghdad lodged a complaint with the UN, blaming the attack on America. While Washington was aware of the base, a source told the Journal that it was not involved in the attack. Two caveats temper the drama. First, during a war such operations are not unusual. Regular viewers will recall that when two American troops were downed in Iran, Washington set up an airfield deep inside Iranian territory to use as a forward operating base. Second, this is not the first time Jerusalem has moved against Baghdad; according to the Jerusalem Post, before the Israel-Hamas war the IDF launched limited strikes on Iranian forces trying to use Iraqi territory to attack Israel. With those caveats in mind, the incident should not have been a major event. It became one because of its potential impact on Israeli-Iraqi relations. Those relations were never good. Israel and Iraq remain technically at war, as they have since 1948, and Iraq does not recognize Israel. The relationship is best described as frosty, but crucially it was not getting markedly worse, which is sometimes the best outcome available. Building a secret base on Iraqi soil and then killing an Iraqi soldier to protect it will actively make things worse. ## A Prime Minister Chosen in Washington According to Seth J. Frantzman, senior Middle East correspondent at the Jerusalem Post, Iraqi media have been swept up by the report. It landed at a particularly sensitive moment, with Baghdad in the middle of approving a new government after finally settling on Ali al-Zaidi, a businessman with no political profile before this appointment, as prime minister. Al-Zaidi was chosen after a sustained pressure campaign from Washington, which had rejected Baghdad's initial choice, Nouri al-Maliki, with Trump threatening to stop supporting Iraq if al-Maliki took office. Al-Maliki had previously served two terms as Iraqi prime minister, and according to Victoria Taylor, director of the Iraq Initiative at the Atlantic Council's Middle East program, Washington rejected him over his close ties to Iran. The fact that Iraq could not select its own prime minister without Washington's approval, alongside a secret Israeli base that Jerusalem killed to protect, may be read across the wider Middle East as violations of Iraqi sovereignty. As Frantzman put it: "This report could feed distrust of the US, as Iraq and others reading the Arabic report in the region may see this as the US enabling a violation of Iraqi sovereignty. In a sensitive time, when some Gulf states are also concerned about the conflict with Iran, this could have repercussions." ## The Gulf Recalculates Its Loyalties Whether the question of Iraqi sovereignty reshapes Washington's, and by extension Jerusalem's, relationship with Gulf countries remains to be seen. But Saudi Arabia's unwillingness to let the U.S. use its bases and airspace for Project Freedom, even though those rights were later restored, is an indicator that all is not well in the region. How the war ultimately ends will be a major determinant of Washington's relationship with the Gulf states. Senior Gulf officials told the Wall Street Journal they feared that any deal to end the war would focus more on the nuclear question, which is primarily a concern for the U.S. and Israel, than on Tehran's missiles and proxy network. If the Trump administration can thread the needle and secure a deal that addresses the concerns of Washington, the Gulf, and Israel, an extremely tall order, then Washington can salvage its credibility. If it instead prioritizes the nuclear question and sidelines the Gulf's concerns, the Gulf may decide it is time to look beyond Washington for a security partner. There are already small signs of this: Gulf capitals have struck deals with Ukraine for interceptor drones against the Trump administration's wishes. What larger steps might look like is anyone's guess. ## China's Quiet Push for Peace Attention then turns from the Middle East to China, and a story with wide-reaching implications for the Iran War. On Wednesday, the 13th of May, Trump was set to arrive in China for a bilateral meeting with Xi Jinping, where the two presidents would discuss a wide range of issues, including this war. The timing is delicate. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused China of "funding the largest state sponsor of terrorism" by buying 90% of Iran's energy. Washington has gone beyond accusations: it imposed sanctions on three Chinese firms for providing Iran with satellite imagery used in strikes against American targets, and earlier sanctioned five Chinese refiners over their ties to Iran. China ordered companies to ignore the American sanctions, calling them an unlawful restriction of trade and a breach of international norms. Beyond oil revenue and satellite images, China, according to an investigation by The Telegraph, has supplied Tehran with chemicals to fuel its ballistic missiles. Beijing has also vetoed efforts at the UN Security Council to condemn Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. ## Why Beijing Wants the War to End Given all that help, it would be tempting to conclude that China is propping up Iran to bleed the United States. The case grows stronger still on the numbers. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, America has been burning through its stockpiles of strategic missile interceptors, the very munitions it would need in a fight against Beijing, at an alarming rate. In just seven weeks of war, Washington has used at least 45% of its Precision Strike Missiles, at least 50% of its THAAD missiles used to intercept ballistic threats, and almost 50% of its Patriot air defense interceptors. China, meanwhile, is gathering extensive data on how American forces operate, what they are vulnerable to, and what would work against them in a war. For those reasons alone, Beijing might be expected to relish a long kinetic war that bogs down Tehran's adversary. Yet China has been quietly pushing for peace. According to the Associated Press, Beijing has been highly active behind the scenes, pressing Iran toward a diplomatic solution. Trump himself said he believed China urged Iran to negotiate the ceasefire now in place. Diplomatic sources told the AP it was likely Beijing used its economic leverage, the fact that it buys 90% of Iran's fuel, to force Tehran to the table, a claim China has not confirmed because, per Yaqi Li of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, doing so would make it appear part of a U.S.-led security framework. China's motives are not altruistic. Because the global economy is so interlinked, shockwaves from a closed Strait of Hormuz still reach China even as it imports some Iranian oil. Beijing also has growing economic ties across the region, so the longer the war drags on, the more it damages China's investments and trade relationships in the Gulf. ## The Summit That Could Decide the War A week before Trump's visit, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing, in his first trip to China since the war began. Araghchi called China a great friend of Iran, while Wang called for reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending all hostilities. It is against this backdrop that Trump travels to China. How the talks will play out is not yet known. But a senior administration official told the press that Trump could pressure China to in turn pressure Iran into a deal. He may not need to push hard. As the Wall Street Journal noted, if Xi can broker a peace deal, he will be widely hailed as "a global statesman who swooped in at the precipice of a possible military escalation." That kind of diplomatic prize may be worth more to Beijing than the satisfaction of watching America trapped in a drawn-out war with no exit strategy. Whatever unfolds in Beijing, and elsewhere across the rest of this war, the pieces are now in motion: a ceasefire that survives only by inertia, a sovereignty crisis spreading from Iraq into the Gulf, and a Chinese hand on the diplomatic scale. None of it has resolved, and all of it is still moving. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What were the "love taps" President Trump referred to? After U.S. warships passed through the Strait of Hormuz in a show of force, Iran sent a barrage of missiles, drones, and small boats at them. The United States struck back at the points of origin, hitting Iranian military assets. Trump described those retaliatory strikes as "love taps" in an interview with ABC, while simultaneously warning that a breakdown of the ceasefire would produce "one big glow coming out of Iran." ### What was Project Freedom and why was it paused? Project Freedom was Trump's operation to escort stranded commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz using roughly 15,000 troops, guided-missile destroyers, more than 100 aircraft, and drones. It was paused less than 36 hours after it began. The official reason was to allow negotiations to proceed, but NBC News reported that Saudi Arabia, angered at being caught off guard, had denied the U.S. use of the Prince Sultan airbase and its airspace—cooperation Washington needed because destroyers alone were not enough to cover the geographic requirements of the operation. ### Why did the proposed memorandum of understanding with Iran collapse? The draft one-page MOU would have had Iran forswear nuclear weapons, accept a moratorium on enrichment, and allow snap UN inspections, in exchange for gradual, conditional sanctions relief and the release of frozen Iranian funds. Iran rejected it and countered with demands for full sanctions relief, an end to fighting on all fronts, and recognition of its control over the Strait of Hormuz. Trump called the response "TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE" on Truth Social. ### What did the Wall Street Journal report about a secret Israeli base in Iraq? The Journal reported that Israel built a secret military base in Iraq's western desert shortly before the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran began. It housed Israeli special forces, served as a logistics hub for the Israeli Air Force, and included search-and-rescue teams for downed pilots. When a local shepherd's report prompted Iraqi troops to investigate in early March, they came under intense fire including airstrikes, killing one Iraqi soldier and wounding two others. Baghdad lodged a complaint with the UN, blaming the attack on America. ### How has China factored into the Iran War and its potential resolution? China buys roughly 90% of Iran's energy and, according to cited reporting, has supplied satellite imagery used in strikes on American targets and chemicals to fuel ballistic missiles, while vetoing UN efforts to condemn Iran's Hormuz blockade. Despite this, Beijing has quietly pressed Iran toward a diplomatic solution, and Trump credited China with helping secure the current ceasefire. Analysts believe Beijing used its economic leverage over Iranian oil to bring Tehran to the table, motivated in part by disruption to its own Gulf trade and investments. ## Related Coverage - [America Has Bombed Iran: Strike Analysis, Targets, and What Comes Next](/articles/conflicts/america-has-bombed-iran-strike-analysis-targets-what-comes-next) ## Sources 1. https://time.com/article/2026/05/08/us-iran-war-strait-hormuz-attacks-cease-fire-trump-deal/ 2. https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-bunker-buster-an-expert-explains-what-the-us-dropped-on-iran-259508 3. https://x.com/iribnews_irib/status/2052500336401699116 4. https://www.jpost.com/international/article-895236 5. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/donald-trump-us-epic-fury-project-freedom-hormuz-b2971279.html 6. https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/04/world/live-news/iran-war-hormuz-trump?post-id=cmory0h0d000s3b6ru57g3qpu 7. https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Fujairah-in-Focus-as-Oil-Flows-Reroute-Around-Hormuz-Crisis.html 8. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/06/trump-project-freedom-strait-of-hormuz-ships-iran-ceasefire 9. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trumps-abrupt-u-turn-plan-re-open-strait-hormuz-came-backlash-allies-rcna343845 10. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/07/trump-project-freedom-saudi-arabia-strait-of-hormuz 11. https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-kuwait-lift-restrictions-on-u-s-military-access-to-bases-airspace-8504c830 12. https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/07/politics/us-forces-strike-military-facilities-in-iran 13. https://komonews.com/news/nation-world/one-big-glow-coming-out-of-iran-if-ceasefire-is-over-trump-military-nuclear-weapon-agreement-pakistan 14. https://x.com/leventkemaI/status/2052613048444092835 15. https://responsiblestatecraft.org/iran-trump-nuclear-weapons/ 16. http://www.axios.com/2026/05/06/iran-us-deal-one-page-memo 17. https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/iran-seeks-guarantees-against-future-attacks-us-response-tasnim-reports 18. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/11/iran-war-trump-negotiation-hormuz-nuclear-talks.html <!-- youtube:hE3J-JVzCUs -->