Begun

A military operation titled “Project Freedom” has been launched by the US Navy to secure a safe passage of commercial vessels through the blocked Strait of Hormuz, a spokesperson for the United States military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) told Al Jazeera on Tuesday.

The Strait of Hormuz has been at the centre of the US-Israeli war on Iran that began on February 28, triggering disruptions that have pushed up commodity prices around the world.

Iran has effectively sealed off the strait by threatening to deploy mines, drones, missiles and fast-attack craft. The US has countered by blockading Iranian ports and mounting escorted transits for commercial vessels.

The US military spokesperson said that ship owners and insurance companies have responded positively to the operation, which has “just begun” and is aimed at ensuring commercial ships can pass through the strait safely to benefit global and regional economies.

Later on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a news conference in Washington, DC, that 10 civilian sailors have died due to the ongoing conflict in the Strait of Hormuz, adding that the US Navy has destroyed seven Iranian fast boats in the waterway.

Rubio said the US will continue to clear a passageway through the strait to restore freedom of navigation.

Operation ‘defensive in nature’

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the operation has the goal of reopening the strait and allowing the passage of thousands of stranded commercial vessels.

“Project Freedom is defensive in nature, focused in scope, temporary in duration [and] with one mission: protecting innocent commercial shipping from Iranian aggression,” Hegseth said during a briefing on Tuesday at the Pentagon.

He said that as part of Project Freedom, US forces would not need to enter Iranian waters or airspace, adding that Iran can no longer be allowed to prevent international commerce.

“Iran … cannot be allowed to block innocent countries and their goods from an international waterway,” Hegseth said, and added that two US commercial vessels, along with the country’s warships, have already traversed the strait.

“They said they control the strait – they do not,” the secretary said.

Iran denied any crossings had taken place, though shipping company Maersk said the Alliance Fairfax, a US-flagged ship, exited the Gulf under a US military escort on Monday.

Several merchant ships in the Gulf reported explosions or fires on Monday, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) claimed to have come under an Iranian attack, with an oil port targeted on Monday. On Tuesday, Iran’s army denied any attack on the UAE in recent days.

Iran did confirm firing warning shots at a US warship approaching the strait, forcing it to turn back.

Alexandru Hudisteanu, a military and diplomatic analyst, has told Al Jazeera that the US operation to force open the Strait of Hormuz considerably increased the risk of miscalculation from both sides, especially Iran.

He said that by pushing two ships through the strait yesterday, the US “trapped Iran in an escalation situation”.

After issuing a new map of the Strait of Hormuz with an expanded Iranian area of control, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned vessels on Tuesday to stick to the corridors it had set or face a “decisive response”.

US President Donald Trump said Iran’s military had been reduced to firing “peashooters” and Tehran wanted peace, despite public sabre-rattling.

“They play games, but let me just tell you, they want to make a deal,” the US president told reporters in the Oval Office.

On Tuesday, Air Force General Dan Caine, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that there are more than 1,500 vessels with about 22,500 crew trapped inside the Gulf, but that Iranian attacks against US forces fell “below the threshold of restarting major combat operations at this point”.

Asked what Iran would need to do to violate the ceasefire, Trump said: “They know what not to do.”

Organisers of a Gaza-bound aid mission say their vessels are being intercepted by Israeli military speedboats in Greek waters west of Crete, more than 1,000km from Israel. Crew members of the Global Sumud Flotilla say communications have been jammed and an SOS issued.

As TWZ has just reported, the U.S. Air Force’s highly secretive NT-43A radar cross-section measurement platform is supporting the launch of NASA’s Artemis II space mission. Now we’ve learned that this reflects the start of an entirely new stage in the career of the notoriously shy aircraft, also commonly referred to by the callsign RAT55.

“After decades of flights supporting the Air Force in various roles, the NT-43A Radar Test Bed is being transitioned to start the next phase of its career,” an Air Force spokesperson has told TWZ. “Beginning with data collection during the upcoming launch of Artemis II, the NT-43A Radar Test Bed will continue its legacy of excellence in supporting some of our nation’s most important and technologically advanced capabilities.”

The video below shows RAT55 making a very rare public appearance at Rick Husband International Airport in Amarillo, Texas, last year.

When asked, the Air Force spokesperson said they could not provide any additional information about how this unique aircraft might be utilized in the future. TWZ has also reached out to NASA to ask whether it has any further plans for this jet.

To be clear, getting a statement about RAT55 like the one above is already highly unusual. The aircraft is often referred to as the most secretive Boeing 737 in the world. It is understood to be based at the Tonopah Test Range Airport (TTR) in Nevada, a remote and highly secure facility long used to conceal shadowy aircraft programs. When the NT-43A has been seen, it has usually been from afar, as it has flown around the U.S. military’s flight testing hubs at Area 51, also in Nevada, and Edwards Air Force Base in neighboring California. The jet has only very rarely appeared anywhere else.

Still, it has become instantly recognizable from its heavily modified nose and huge radome protruding from the rear of the fuselage behind the tail. RAT55 is festooned with other bits and bumps to support its primary mission of signature measurement in support of stealthy aircraft programs. The two huge radar arrays at the front and back of the aircraft allow it to precisely measure the radar signatures of stealthy aircraft flying nearby. This information is used to validate low-observable (stealthy) coatings and other design elements. Electro-optical and infrared sensors are also fitted above the two main radomes. Being able to collect signature data mid-air offers advantages over doing so on the ground, since the subject can be continually observed from all angles, including overhead. You can read more about what is known of the NT-43A’s capabilities and role here.

TWZ has been talking for years about the prospect that RAT55, which is now more than five decades old, could just be getting closer to being retired entirely. The jet is a heavily modified conversion of a T-43A trainer aircraft, which is itself a militarized version of the Boeing 737-200 airliner. The Air Force retired the last of its standard T-43As in 2010. Usage of first-generation 737s in any configuration is dwindling globally, and the remaining examples will only become ever-more challenging to support.

With all this in mind, TWZ has also been watching closely for a replacement for RAT55 to appear. However, to date, no explicit successor to the NT-43A has definitely emerged.

In the meantime, NT-43A could now end up being a key aircraft for support space launches and recoveries. It could also perform other testing and development duties unrelated to space launches and low-observable capabilities. If it becomes available to more customers, its unique services could be in high demand, especially with a new stealth boom on the horizon with new fleets of Collaborative Combat Aircraft drones.

If RAT55 does now come more into the light after decades of largely being a ‘ghost’ within the U.S. military flight test community, we may start to learn more about the aircraft, in general, as well as what the future holds for it and any potential successors.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

MEXICO CITY — Cuba has begun direct talks with the United States in an effort to solve “bilateral differences” between the two countries, Cuban President Miguel Díaz Canel said Friday.

The comments, broadcast nationwide in Cuba, are the first confirmation of bilateral talks between two governments that have been fierce adversaries for almost 70 years, since Fidel Castro’s revolution toppled the U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista.

What exactly the talks are about remains unclear, but the Trump administration—which has choked off oil supplies to the island, triggering a severe energy crisis—has been insisting that Cuba’s communist government must change.

In a statement released on social media, Díaz Canel said, “The primary purpose of this conversation is, firstly, to identify the bilateral problems that require a solution—based on their severity and impact—and, secondly, to find solutions for these identified problems.”

Rumors of direct talks between the two nations have been circulating for months, but neither Washington or Havana had confirmed the talks until now.

On Tuesday, the Cuban ambassador to the United States, Lianys Torres Rivera, told The Times that the Cuban government was “ready to engage with the U.S. on the issues that are important for the bilateral relations, and to talk about those in which we have differences.”

Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, have been insistent that the current government must change.

“It may be a friendly takeover, it may not be a friendly takeover,” Trump told Latin American leaders gathered in Florida on Saturday.

“It wouldn’t matter because they’re down to, as they say, fumes. They have no energy. They have no money. They’re in deep trouble,” Trump said.

Trump responded to the Cuban leader’s willingness to negotiate on Friday morning by amplifying a news article with the headline:”Cuba confirms talks with Trump officials, raising hopes for US deal.” He posted that on his Truth Social account.

Rolling blackouts, shortages of food and medicine, a lack of gasoline and other shortfalls have become everyday occurrences on the island, home to 10 million. Images of uncollected garbage rotting on Havana’s streets have been broadcast across the globe. A lack of jet fuel has bludgeoned the critical tourism sector.

“The status quo is unsustainable,” Rubio said last month. “Cuba needs to change…And it doesn’t have to be change all at once. It doesn’t have to change from one day to the next.”

The Cuban announcement comes 13 days after the U.S. attacked Iran and two months after U.S. forces, deployed by Trump, deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a longtime Cuban ally, and brought him to New York to face drug trafficking charges.