(LONDON) — With the war in Iran still unresolved and an energy crisis linked to it battering the global economy, here’s a timeline of the key phases of the conflict, from the start of “Operation Epic Fury” to “Project Freedom,” intended to reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz.
Phase 1: Trump announces the start of combat operations in Iran
In a late-night video statement released to the nation on Feb. 28, just hours after U.S. and Israeli forces launched attacks on Iran, President Donald Trump announced that major combat operations were underway.
“Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people,” Trump said.
He said that chief among the goals of the joint U.S.-Israel operations was to eliminate once and for all Iran’s ambitions to obtain a nuclear weapon.
“They’ve rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions, and we can’t take it anymore,” said Trump, adding that after the U.S. “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities in June 2025, the regime began rebuilding its nuclear program and developing long-range missiles.
In his first press briefing four days after the start of combat operations, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said, “I stand before you today with one unmistakable message about Operation Epic Fury: America is winning decisively, devastatingly and without mercy.”
U.S. military officials said top government and military leaders of the Iranian regime were killed in the opening salvos of the conflict, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Hegseth said the hundreds of military targets were hit in the first hours of the operation, knocking out the IRGC’s ability to effectively communicate.
Iran retaliated by firing missiles at seven Gulf states, hitting civilian infrastructure and airports in the United Arab Emirates, residential areas in Qatar and an apartment building in Bahrain.
During the briefing, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine released the names of six U.S. service members killed in an Iranian drone strike on Port Shuaiba, Kuwait.
Phase 2: Strait of Hormuz becomes focal point of the war
As the fighting progressed, Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was named the country’s new supreme leader on March 8, despite reports that he was badly injured in the attack that killed his father.
In his purported first written statement, Mojtaba Khamenei directed the IRGC to continue to limit traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the maritime channel linking the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman, through which 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passed in 2024.
Tensions immediately escalated in the Strait of Hormuz following Mojtaba Khamenei’s directive to the IRGC. The Iranian military claimed on March 12 that it struck an oil tanker in the Persian Gulf, one of three commercial ships attacked that day near the Strait of Hormuz.
The attacks came just days after President Trump posted a message on his social media platform, saying if Iran attempted to stop the flow of oil in the strait, “They will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far.”
On March 21, Trump gave Iran an ultimatum to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to all commercial vessels in 48 hours. The president posted on his social media platform that if Iran didn’t comply, “The United States will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST.”
The following day, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a letter to the U.N. International Maritime Organization, saying the strait was open to “non-hostile” vessels.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on state TV on March 25 that “Iran’s power is the Hormuz Strait.”
Phase 3: US Naval blockade and ceasefire
Trump announced on March 23 that the U.S. and Iran were discussing an end to the war, giving the first indication of diplomatic talks since the start of the war. He gave Iran a five-day extension to reopen the strait, citing progress in ongoing peace negotiations.
The next day, the Trump administration offered Iran, through intermediaries in Pakistan, a 15-point plan to end the war.
Israeli Defense Forces announced on March 26 that Alireza Tangsiri, commander of the IRGC’s navy, was “eliminated” in a strike. The IDF also claimed the strike killed the head of Iran’s naval intelligence, Behnam Rezaei.
On March 26, Trump announced that he was pausing the attack on Iran’s energy plants for 10 days until April 6 at 8 p.m. ET., saying in a social media post, “Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well.”
Trump extended Iran’s deadline again on April 5, giving Iran until April 7 to make a deal. Iran responded to Trump’s 15-point peace plan with a 10-point proposal for ending the war, but the strait remained on lockdown.
Just hours ahead of the April 7 deadline, Trump again took to social media, writing, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”
That same day, Iran and the United States announced they had agreed to a two-week ceasefire that would include reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
But on April 8, Israel launched a heavy bombing attack against Hezbollah in Lebanon, prompting Iran to complain that Israel broke the ceasefire agreement and closed the strait again.
Vice President JD Vance then traveled to Islamabad, Pakistan, for peace talks with Iran, brokered by Pakistan. Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also participated in the talks, but Vance announced on April 11 that no agreement had been reached.
With the strait still closed, President Trump on April 13 announced a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports along the strait. “We can’t let a country blackmail or extort the world, because that’s what they’re doing,” Trump said.
Trump said on April 21 that the ceasefire was being extended indefinitely at the request of Pakistan, but that the naval blockade would stay in place.
Phase 4: ‘Project Freedom’
As the war dragged into May, Trump announced that the U.S. Central Command was launching “Project Freedom,” in which U.S. military ships would escort commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.
But the launch of Project Freedom on May 3 caused an escalation of tensions in the strait.
On May 4, Adm. Brad Cooper, head of the U.S. Central Command, said the IRGC had launched missiles, drones, and small boats toward ships the U.S. was protecting in the Strait of Hormuz. Cooper said the U.S. “defeated each and every one of those threats,” and that U.S. AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and others were used to “eliminate” the Iranian attack boats.
On May 5, Trump announced a temporary pause in Project Freedom at the request of Pakistan.
In a statement on social media on May 6, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the pause “will go a long way towards advancing regional peace, stability and reconciliation during this sensitive period.”
Trump said that while Project Freedom is paused, the U.S. naval blockade is still in effect.
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