Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi has announced that the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed since the start of the war, would be opened for the remaining period of the ceasefire. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has caused chaos in global oil markets and the US-Iran ceasefire runs until Tuesday.
In a social media post, Araghchi linked the announcement to the declaration of a 10-day truce in Lebanon between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, which was announced by US President Donald Trump and came into force early today.
“In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire, on the coordinated route as already announced by Ports and Maritime Organisation of the Islamic Rep. of Iran.”
Abbas Araghchi
Trump acknowledged the announcement in a post on Truth Social, repeating that the strait was fully open. “THANK YOU!” he added
The opening gives shipping authorities less than a week to relieve thousands of sailors still trapped in the Persian Gulf before the expiration next week. About 20,000 sailors and 2,000 ships carrying around 21 billions liters of oil are stuck in the key waterway between Iran and Oman, which has been under fire since US-Israeli bombing in late February and retaliatory Iranian strikes set off regional violence.
Iranian officials initially imposed a partial blockade on ships through the strait as a retaliatory measure against the US-Israeli military campaign, stemming trade through the crucial waterway and sending global oil prices soaring. Then on Monday, the US leveled a block on the channel, prompting at least 13 vessels to turn course, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine told reporters in Washington, DC, yesterday.
Heads of state and other top officials reacted to Iran’s announcement that the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway has been reopened to all commercial vessels for the remainder of the US-Iran ceasefire, which is due to end on Tuesday.
In a statement, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said that it welcomed the reopening of the strait, adding that it strongly condemned Iran’s effective closure of it. The UAE also condemned Iran’s threats and attacks against vessels in the region, as well as its threat to lay mines in and around the strait.
Similarly, Finland’s President in a post on X said, “We welcome Iran’s announcement on opening the strait. Lasting solutions require diplomacy.” Vice-President of the European Commission, Kaja Kallas, said that the strait must remain open, in comments made on X in the wake of the announcement. “Under international law, transit through waterways like the Strait of Hormuz must remain open and free of charge,” Kallas noted.
President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said, “Restoring full and permanent freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz is an urgent, shared priority.”
She added in a post on X that during a virtual meeting this afternoon on the Strait of Hormuz, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, she reiterated the EU’s responsibility to work with Gulf partners including on “connectivity, which can take the stress out of the Strait.”
Trump Says Iran Naval Blockade To Hold Until Agreement Is “100% Complete”
President Donald Trump heralded the news that the Strait of Hormuz has reopened but clarified that the current US naval blockade will remain in place “until such time as our transaction with Iran is 100% complete.” “This process should go very quickly in that most of the points are already negotiated,” Trump wrote in an all-caps post on his Truth Social platform.
The US had imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports in response to Iran’s closure of the key waterway. The Head of US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Wednesday that the blockade had been “fully implemented.”
Key negotiator Pakistan has intensified efforts in recent days to secure a new round of peace talks after the last one ended in Islamabad over the weekend without any agreement. The President said Thursday that he’d consider traveling to Pakistan to sign a peace deal if the US and Iran reach an agreement to end the war. “I would go to Pakistan, yeah,” he told reporters at the White House, iterating that if the deal is signed in Islamabad, “I might go.” He added, “They want me to go.”
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