Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the Strait of Hormuz was open following the agreement of a ceasefire in Lebanon, while U.S. President Donald Trump said he believed a deal to end the Iran war would come “soon”, although the timing remains unclear.
Araqchi said in a post on X the Strait was open for all commercial vessels for the remainder of the U.S.-brokered 10-day truce between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah agreed on Thursday between Israel and Lebanon.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters that transit would be through designated lanes that Iran deemed safe for navigation and would exclude naval vessels.
The U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, which started on February 28, has killed thousands of people and destabilised the Middle East. The conflict also effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas usually transits, threatening the worst oil shock in history.
OIL PRICES TUMBLE, STOCKS JUMP
Oil prices , fell by 11%, extending earlier losses, following Araqchi’s post. Stocks around the world, which had already been trading around record highs, jumped further on the news.
Major shipping companies reacted more cautiously, signalling it may take more time for traffic through the chokepoint to return to normal levels, which was about 130 ships a day prior to the war.
German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd said it would refrain from passing through the Strait while it assessed the announcement and the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association said several factors needed to be clarified, including the possible presence of sea mines.
The International Monetary Fund this week lowered its forecasts for global growth and warned the global economy risked tipping into recession if the conflict was prolonged, mainly due to the impact from the closure of the strait.
US BLOCKADE REMAINS IN PLACE
Shortly after Araqchi’s statement, Trump posted on Truth Social: “IRAN HAS JUST ANNOUNCED THAT THE STRAIT OF IRAN IS FULLY OPEN AND READY FOR PASSAGE.”
However, Trump said the U.S. military blockade of ships sailing through the Strait to Iranian ports – announced after talks with Iran last weekend in the Pakistani capital Islamabad ended without agreement – remained in place.
He said that blockade would remain in full force until “our transaction with Iran is 100% complete”, which he said should happen very quickly given that most points were already negotiated.
Trump had said on Thursday that talks could happen as soon as this weekend, although that was looking increasingly unlikely by Friday afternoon given the logistics of assembling officials in Islamabad, where the talks are expected to take place.
Despite Trump’s optimism, Iranian sources told Reuters on Friday that some “gaps remained to be resolved” before reaching a preliminary deal and senior clerics leading Friday prayers struck a defiant tone.