Saudi Arabia barred the US military from using Prince Sultan Airbase and Saudi airspace to support President Donald Trump's "Project Freedom" operation in the Strait of Hormuz, forcing the president to halt the initiative within roughly 36 hours of its launch, NBC News reported on May 6, citing two US officials.

Trump surprised Gulf allies by announcing Project Freedom on social media on Sunday afternoon, angering leadership in Saudi Arabia, the NBC News report said. In response, Riyadh informed Washington it would not allow US military aircraft to fly from Prince Sultan Airbase southeast of the Saudi capital or transit Saudi airspace in support of the effort.

A subsequent phone call between Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman failed to resolve the impasse, the US officials told NBC News, forcing the president to pause Project Freedom in order to restore US military access to the critical airspace.

Other close Gulf allies were also caught off guard, with Trump speaking to leaders in Qatar after the operation had already begun. The United States did not coordinate with Oman until after the announcement, a Middle Eastern diplomat told NBC News. A White House official said in a statement that regional allies had been notified in advance.

A Saudi source told NBC News that Trump and the crown prince had been in regular contact and that Saudi officials were also in touch with Vice President JD Vance, US Central Command and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The source said the Kingdom was "very supportive of the diplomatic efforts" by Pakistan to broker a deal between Iran and the United States.

The US military maintains fighter aircraft, refuelling tankers and air defences at Prince Sultan Airbase. The Saudis previously allowed the US to fly aircraft from the base to support the war in Iran, as well as allowing aircraft based in nearby countries to transit overhead.

Geography requires cooperation from regional partners to use airspace along their borders, with no alternative routes in some cases, one US official told NBC News. The US military refers to such permissions as access, basing and overflight (ABO). Saudi Arabia and Jordan are critical for basing, Kuwait for overflight, and Oman for both overflight and naval logistics.

Project Freedom briefly provided US military surveillance, firepower and personnel on board commercial ships transiting out of the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz. Pentagon officials said the operation was separate from the bombing campaign that began on February 28 and was dubbed "Epic Fury". US Central Command had announced that two US-flagged ships had transited the strait under the operation, with additional vessels lined up before the halt.

Trump said in a Truth Social post that Project Freedom would be "paused for a short period of time" to see whether an agreement to end the war could be finalised and signed. The US blockade on Iranian ports would remain in effect during the pause, he said.

The US military continues to maintain a larger footprint in the region than at the start of the war on February 28, with two carrier strike groups in the area and additional logistics, support and resupplied stockpiles brought in.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said in an interview with semi-official news agency ISNA that Iran was reviewing the latest US peace proposal and would discuss it with Pakistan, which has been acting as mediator, once the assessment was complete. Axios reported on May 6 that the White House believed it was closer than at any point in the conflict to agreeing a one-page 14-point memorandum of understanding to end the war.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar joined the United States in submitting a draft resolution to the UN Security Council on freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on May 5. Iran's UN mission rejected the draft as politically motivated.