Lucy Hough

But could it cause a major re-escalation of the war with Iran and bring an end to the ceasefire?

From The Guardian's Today In Focus, this is The Latest with me, Lucy Hoth.

Well, joining me down the line from Jerusalem is Julian Borger, our senior international correspondent.

Thanks for dialing in, Julian.

It's lovely to have you on the show.

So it's now nearly a month since the ceasefire was agreed between the US and Israel and Iran.

And in sort of military terms, things felt like they were settling down.

But there has been this continued tension over the Strait of Hormuz, this vital crossing where one fifth of the world's oil passes through that has caused such damage to the world's economy with a blockade imposed by either side there.

There has been a re-escalation with the US sending in the last 24 hours ships to the Strait.

Iran is now saying things haven't even begun.

Are we looking at a situation where things could really kick off again in military terms?

OK, well, that sounds very alarming.

And this is a new initiative announced by the US yesterday by Donald Trump called Project Freedom.

What does this actually entail?

Yeah, because there's a real human aspect to this story as well, isn't there, Julian, in the sense that there are at least 800 ships currently trapped in the Strait of Hormuz and have been stuck for nearly three months now with crews of around 20,000 people.

Do you think this will stand any chance of succeeding?

Yeah, and that's what the international community certainly wants as well, a sense of US-Iranian cooperation to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, not this risk of conflict, as you say, with these warships in very close proximity to each other.

So why has Trump gone for this unilateral approach, do you think?

Is it because oil prices have shot to as high as $114 a barrel?

Is that what's driving it, do you think?