Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz near Bandar Abbas, Iran, May 4, 2026. Amirhosein Khorgooi | ISNA | WANA | Via Reuters Defense and geopolitical experts are skeptical that "Project Freedom," the Trump administration's new effort to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial traffic, will succeed. "In my view, it's not a solution at all," Jennifer Kavanagh , senior fellow and director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, a libertarian-leaning foreign policy think tank, said of the operation. "It doesn't really address the underlying problem here, which is that the uncertainty about the safety of transit means that ship captains and shipping companies are hesitant to take the risk," Kavanagh said in a phone interview. The administration, however, says its day-old effort to defend ships transiting the strait from Iranian attacks is already working . "We've now opened a passage through the Strait of Hormuz to allow for the free flow of commerce to proceed," U.S. Central Command leader Adm.…