Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Strait of Hormuz was open following a ceasefire accord agreed in Lebanon, while US President Donald Trump said he believed a deal to end the Iran war would come “soon”, although the timing remains unclear.
Araghchi said in a post on X the Strait was open for all commercial vessels for the remainder of the US-brokered 10-day truce between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah agreed on Thursday between Israel and Lebanon.
He said the passage of ships would need to be along the route that Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organisation had announced.
The US-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 fell by about 9%, extending earlier losses, following Araghchi’s post.
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.
US blockade remains in place
Shortly after Araghchi’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 US 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 will 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.
In a sermon in Tehran, cleric Ahmad Khatami said: “Our people do not negotiate while being humiliated,” while in the central city of Isfahan, the imam said: “We did not accept the terms proposed by the other party.”
In Islamabad, troops were seen along routes leading into the capital on Friday, but roads were still open and the government had not issued orders for businesses to shut down, as they did prior to the last meeting.
