With a 10-day ceasefire in place too stop Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, Iran Friday announced the Strait of Hormuz open for passage of oil tankers, triggering a drop in oil prices in the region, but the disgraced, convicted felon American president Donald Trump says the blockage of Iranian ports remains, putting progress in doubt.
In The New York Times, Peter Eavis, Jenny Gross and Joe Rennison report:
The Strait of Hormuz is open for all commercial ships after the agreement of a cease-fire in Lebanon, Iran and the United States said on Friday.
Oil prices dropped soon after the announcement, though Iran said ships would have to take a “coordinated route” that shipping analysts said referred to a route that runs close to Iran’s coast.
Shortly after Iran’s announcement, President Trump responded in social media post: “IRAN HAS JUST ANNOUNCED THAT THE STRAIT OF IRAN IS FULLY OPEN AND READY FOR FULL PASSAGE. THANK YOU!” But later Mr. Trump said that a U.S. blockade of Iranian ships leaving the strait, which began on Monday, would remain in place. Iran said this week it would retaliate against shipping in the Middle East in response to the blockade.
The statements that the waterway is now open raised hopes in markets that oil and gas would start flowing out of the Persian Gulf in significant volumes again.
Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, fell more than 10 percent, to below $90 a barrel, its lowest level in more than a month, though it remains more than 20 percent higher than before the war started. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, also fell over 10 percent, to below $84 per barrel.
“Assuming this holds, then I think it’s great news,” said Jerry Kalogiratos, chief executive of Capital Clean Energy Carriers, a shipping company that operates oil and gas tankers.
Before the war, a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas traveled through the Strait of Hormuz. But tanker traffic slowed to a trickle after Iran began attacking ships early in a war, causing a shortage of oil and gas in world markets that drove up the costs of gasoline, diesel and cooking gas.
Iran’s foreign minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, said in a post on X that the strait would be open for the “remaining period of cease-fire.” He did not specify whether that was the cease-fire in Lebanon or the one between the United States and Iran.
Iran has said before that the strait is open to shipping. And experts on the Strait of Hormuz said Mr. Araghchi’s statement should be treated somewhat cautiously, partly because he specified that the strait would be open to ships using a route — running close to Iran’s coast and Larak Island — that the country’s maritime agency announced this month.
“That does not equate to freedom of navigation,” said Martin Navias, an author of “Tanker Wars: The Assault on Merchant Shipping During the Iran-Iraq Crisis.”
U.S. forces began a blockade east of the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, with the aim of stopping Iranian and Iran-linked ships.
U.S. Central Command posted a video on Friday of U.S. officials directing a merchant vessels to return to an Iranian port. It was one of 19 ships that have complied with direction from U.S. forces to turn around and return to Iran, Central Command said on social media. “ZERO vessels have evaded U.S. forces during the blockade,” it said.
Iran’s assurances were not likely to be sufficient for major shipping companies, which are hesitant to send ships through the strait, even ones that have been stranded there for weeks, without more certain security guarantees. Hapag-Lloyd, the fifth largest container shipping company, had convened a crisis meeting to assess the latest developments, the company’s spokesman said.
“On paper, this looks great,” said Alexis Ellender, an analyst at Kpler, a marine data tracking firm. But he added that he expected it would to take some time — weeks, not days — before there was a significant upturn in the volume of ships going through.
But some smaller companies may be willing to restart traffic if they secure affordable insurance cover. Around 900 ships have been stranded in the Persian Gulf over the course of the war, according to a New York Times analysis of Kpler data.
At the Washington Post, Susannah George and Evan Halper write:
Iran announced Friday that it would open the Strait of Hormuz, the vital passageway for oil that has been a central sticking point in efforts to end the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.
“The passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open,” said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in an X post.
President Donald Trump posted to Truth Social moments later. “IRAN HAS JUST ANNOUNCED THAT THE STRAIT OF IRAN IS FULLY OPEN AND READY FOR FULL PASSAGE. THANK YOU!” he wrote.
The U.S. naval blockade established on vessels leaving from and going to Iranian ports remains in effect, U.S. officials said. The Navy has turned back 19 ships since it took effect Monday, defense officials said on social media Friday morning.Ask The Post AIDive deeper
The announcement comes amid a broader push to secure a peace deal between Iran and the United States, after they agreed to a 15-day ceasefire last week. A 10-day, U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Lebanon, which promised to halt Israeli strikes on Hezbollah, went into effect early Friday local time — following pressure by the Trump administration to ramp down a conflict that threatened to upend the Iran ceasefire.
Trump has suggested that Iran and the United States are “very close” to a peace deal. U.S. and Iranian negotiators have continued to exchange messages since face-to-face talks between the two sides broke down in Islamabad this past weekend. The two sides could meet again in coming days, according to Trump.
Iran has never formally declared the Strait of Hormuz closed, but since the outbreak of war in late February, Iranian forces have attacked civilian tankers in the area and mined part of the waterway, reducing traffic drastically. Tehran granted permission to a handful of tankers to pass, while continuing to restrict most traffic, including shipments associated with the United States, Israel and countries Iran has attacked for hosting U.S. military bases.
Shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz could resume “on the coordinated route as already announced” by Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization, Araghchi said. It’s unclear whether this means that vessels will need to pay a toll for using the strait.
Iran began charging tankers a toll to use the strait during the war with the United States. Charging for passage through a naturally occurring waterway is against international maritime law. Iranian officials have said that fees collected from the tolls would be used to pay for “security” in the strait.
Iran expanded its control of the Strait of Hormuz over the course of the war with the United States and pushed to formalize that control during negotiations for a peace deal. That move has angered Iran’s Persian Gulf neighbors who rely on the strait to export oil and gas to international markets.
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