US military says Hormuz Project Freedom has ‘just begun’

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday Iran should “do the smart thing,” claiming its economy was collapsing and its soldiers were going unpaid, while saying he did not want to “go in and kill people.”

"They're failing. Their currency is worthless. Their inflation is probably 150%. The real number is 150%. They aren't paying their soldiers. They can't pay their soldiers. The money is worthless," he told reporters.

"They should do the smart thing. You know? They should do the smart thing, and because we don't want to go in and kill people. Really, I don't want to. I don't want to. It's too tough. Great people. I know the people. I have so many Iranian friends from New York and from other places over the years, the great people, I don't want to, I don't want to kill those."

The US Rewards for Justice program said on Tuesday it is offering a reward of up to $10M for information on Akram Abbas al-Kabi, founder and leader of Harakat al-Nujaba, an Iran-backed militia group in Iraq.

The group’s members have attacked US diplomatic facilities in Iraq as well as US military bases in Iraq and Syria, killing a US contractor and wounding US servicemembers, according to the notice.

“Al-Kabi has a long history of targeting US troops and diplomatic facilities in Iraq. Help us end his terrorist attacks,” Rewards for Justice said on X.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy warned vessels intending to transit the Strait of Hormuz to use only a designated corridor announced by Iran, after a US-led Joint Maritime Information Center advised ships to cross the strait in Oman's waters, saying it set up an "enhanced security area."

“We warn all vessels intending to transit the Strait that the only safe route for passage through the Strait of Hormuz is the corridor previously announced by the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the IRGC Navy said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Any deviation by vessels to other routes is unsafe and will face decisive action by the Revolutionary Guards Navy,” it added.

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said the country would respond with strength to threats to its sovereignty and security while praising the armed forces’ response to Iranian attacks.

“This year’s anniversary is a particularly proud occasion, given the decisive role played by the UAE’s armed forces in responding to the Iranian terrorist attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure,” state news agency WAM quoted him as saying in a statement marking the 50th anniversary of the unification of the country's armed forces.

He said the UAE had pursued prosperity since its founding while “responding with decisiveness and strength to any threat to its sovereignty, security, and the safety of its people and residents.”

“The UAE, through the strength of its armed forces, the cohesion of its society, and the resilience of its development model, remains able to deter any aggression, confront any threat, and continue its journey of progress,” he added.

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Iranians are deterred from protesting because they lack weapons, arguing that even large crowds would be unable to withstand armed crackdowns.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump described scenarios in which demonstrators would be targeted by gunfire, arguing that fear of violence prevents mass protests from continuing.

“I don't want to say that, but yeah. I mean, people say, Why aren't they protesting? They want to protest, but they don't have any guns,” Trump said. “So you could have 200,000 people protesting, and have five or six sick people with guns, and when they start shooting them right between the eyes… very few people would be able to stand there and do it.”

He referred to the massacre of 40,000 protesters in January and also the 2022 crackdown on the Woman Life Freedom protesters, saying large crowds dispersed after individuals were shot.

“They had 200,000 women protesting… and then all of a sudden, a woman dropped dead with a bullet… And another woman dropped… and then there was panic, and then they ran,” he said.

“I don't want that to happen. We don't need that,” Trump added, while reiterating that protesters “want to protest so badly, but they don't have weapons.”