BEIRUT — Iran said Friday it fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels, but President Donald Trump said the American blockade on Iranian ships and ports “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the U.S., including on its nuclear program.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X that the crucial waterway, through which about 20% of the world’s oil is shipped, was now fully open to commercial vessels, as a 10-day truce between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon appeared to hold.
Araghchi said ships will use routes designated by the Islamic Republic in coordination with Iranian authorities. It was not clear if vessels would have to pay tolls.
Trump initially celebrated the Iranian announcement, posting on social media that the strait was “fully open and ready for full passage.” But minutes later, he issued another post saying the U.S. Navy’s blockade would continue “UNTIL SUCH TIME AS OUR TRANSACTION WITH IRAN IS 100% COMPLETE.”
A spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry said the blockade was a violation of the ceasefire agreement.
In comments published by Iranian state media, Esmail Baghaei said the strait is still under the supervision of Iran, which is serious about its commitments. But if the U.S. violates its own commitments, then Iran “will take the necessary reciprocal measures.”
“No leniency will be shown in this regard,” Baghaei said.
The president also said Iran, with help from the U.S., is working to remove all mines from the strait.
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Trump suggests new talks could happen this weekend
Trump imposed the blockade earlier this week after Iran restricted traffic through the strait due to fighting in Lebanon, which Iran claimed was a breach of the Pakistan-brokered ceasefire reached between the U.S., Israel and Iran.
The president’s decision to continue the blockade despite Iran’s announcement appeared aimed at sustaining pressure on Tehran as the fate of the two-week ceasefire reached last week remained uncertain. The ceasefire paused almost seven weeks of war between Israel, the U.S. and Iran.
Direct talks between the U.S. and Iran last weekend were inconclusive, as the two nations could not agree about Iran’s nuclear program and other points.
Trump suggested a second round of talks could happen this weekend.
“The Iranians want to meet,” he said in a brief telephone interview with the news outlet Axios. “They want to make a deal. I think a meeting will probably take place over the weekend.”
Oil prices fell Friday on hopes the U.S. and Iran were drawing closer to an agreement . The head of the International Energy Agency had warned that the energy crisis could get worse if the strait did not reopen.
Iranian media challenge announcement about Strait of Hormuz
Two Iranian semiofficial news agencies seemed to challenge Araghchi’s announcement about the strait.
Considered close with Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, the Fars news agency issued a series of posts on X criticizing what it said was a lack of clarity over the decision to reopen the waterway and a “strange silence from the Supreme National Security Council and the negotiating team.”
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has recently acted as the country’s de facto top decision-making body, amid doubts over the status of the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who was reportedly wounded early in the war.
The Mehr news agency also said the decision to reopen the strait needed “clarification” and required the supreme leader’s approval.
Truce in Lebanon could help U.S.-Iran peace efforts
The ceasefire in Lebanon could clear one major obstacle to a deal between Iran, the United States and Israel to end weeks of devastating war. But it was unclear to what extent Hezbollah would abide by a deal it did not play a role in negotiating and which will leave Israeli troops occupying a stretch of southern Lebanon.
Trump said in another post that Israel is “prohibited” by the U.S. from further strikes on Lebanon and that “enough is enough” in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
The U.S. State Department said the prohibition applies only to offensive attacks and not to actions taken in self-defence.
Shortly before Trump’s post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel agreed to the ceasefire in Lebanon “at the request of my friend President Trump,” but that the campaign against Hezbollah is not complete.
He claimed Israel had destroyed about 90 per cent of Hezbollah’s missile and rocket stockpiles and added that Israeli forces “have not finished yet” with the dismantling of the group.
Celebrations in Beirut
In Beirut, celebratory gunshots rang out at the start of the truce. Displaced families began moving toward southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs despite warnings by officials not to return to their homes until it became clear whether the ceasefire would hold.
The Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon had reported sporadic artillery shelling in some parts of southern Lebanon in the hours after the ceasefire took effect.
An Israeli strike in the area of Kounine hit a car and a motorcycle, killing one person and wounding three, including a Syrian citizen, the Lebanese Health Ministry said Friday. It was the first airstrike and first fatality reported since the truce took effect.
There was no immediate response from the Israeli army or Hezbollah.
An end to Israel’s war with Hezbollah was a key demand of Iranian negotiators, who previously accused Israel of breaking the current ceasefire with strikes on Lebanon. Israel said that deal did not cover Lebanon.
The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,290 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members have also been killed.
Israel says it will keep troops in Lebanon
Israeli forces have engaged in fierce battles with Hezbollah as they pushed into southern Lebanon to create what officials have called a “security zone.”
Israel’s hard-line Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel would continue to hold all the places it is currently stationed, including a buffer zone extending 10 kilometers (6 miles) into southern Lebanon. He said many homes in the area would be destroyed and Lebanese residents will not return.
Hezbollah has said Lebanese people have “the right to resist” Israeli occupation and that their actions “will be determined based on how developments unfold.”
Israel and Hezbollah have fought several wars and have been fighting on and off since the day after the start of the Gaza war. Israel and Lebanon reached a deal to end that war in November 2024, but Israel has kept up near-daily strikes in what it says is an effort to prevent the Iran-backed militant group from regrouping. That escalated into another invasion after Hezbollah again began firing missiles at Israel in response to its war on Iran.
Mediators seek compromise on three points
Mediators are pushing for compromise on three main points: Iran’s nuclear program, the Strait of Hormuz and compensation for wartime damages, according to a regional official involved in the mediation efforts.
Trump on Friday suggested Iran has agreed to hand over its enriched uranium.
“The U.S.A. will get all Nuclear `Dust,’ created by our great B2 Bombers -- No money will exchange hands in any way, shape, or form,” he said in a post. Nuclear dust is the shorthand Trump frequently uses to refer to the highly enriched uranium that is believed buried under nuclear sites the U.S. bombed during last year’s 12-day war between Israel and Iran.
If true, it would be a major concession from Iran and would lock in a key demand of the U.S. to end the conflict. Neither Iran nor countries acting as intermediaries in the conflict have said Tehran has made such an agreement.
Kareem Chehayeb, Aamer Madhani and Elena Becatoros
Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Ben Finley in Washington, Samy Magdy and Amir Rajdy in Cairo, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Abby Sewell in Beirut and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.
