Trump and Iran’s top diplomat say the Strait of Hormuz is fully open
Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi said the strategic waterway “is declared completely open,” in line with the new ceasefire in Lebanon, and Trump said the strait is “ready for full passage.”
However, Trump added that the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ships and ports “will remain in full force” until Iran reaches a deal with Washington to end the war.
Oil prices fell 10%, and the Dow soared 1,020 points after Iran said the strait is open, allowing tankers to resume shipments from the Persian Gulf. Stocks are heading for a third straight weekly gain, up 12% since late March on hopes the U.S. and Iran can avoid a worst-case economic scenario.
A 10-day ceasefire in Israel and Lebanon began at midnight and appears to be holding after more than a month of war between Israel and Hezbollah, although the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group is not a party to the deal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is “not yet finished” with Hezbollah. The militant group said its response will depend on how events unfold.
The fragile calm has prompted thousands of displaced Lebanese families to head home, with vehicles piled high with mattresses and salvaged belongings backed up for kilometers on a route leading to southern Lebanon. The war displaced over a million people in the tiny country.
The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,100 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members have also been killed.
Here is the latest:
Trump suggests a second round of direct US-Iran talks could happen this weekend
“The Iranians want to meet,” Trump 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.”
Thousands head home as US-brokered truce holds in Lebanon
A fragile calm settled over parts of Lebanon on Friday as a 10-day ceasefire brokered by the United States took hold between Israel and Hezbollah, prompting thousands of displaced families to begin the journey home — even as uncertainty, destruction and Israeli warnings against going back to parts of southern Lebanon clouded their return.
By early morning, cars were backed up for kilometers on the route leading south to the damaged Qasmiyeh bridge over the Litani River, a key crossing linking the southern coastal city of Tyre to the north. Vehicles piled high with mattresses, suitcases and salvaged belongings crept forward through a single reopened lane, hastily repaired after an Israeli airstrike just a day earlier.
Drivers heading back to their villages along coastal highways cheered each other, flashed victory signs and exchanged blessings. Iranian media reports a challenge to the FM’s post declaring Strait of Hormuz open
Two semiofficial news agencies in Iran are casting doubt on an earlier announcement from Iran’s top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, that the Strait of Hormuz was being opened to global traffic.
Considered close with the powerful Revolutionary Guard, Fars news agency appeared to challenge Iran’s reported decision to open the strait in a series of posts on its X account.
The posts condemned a “strange silence from the Supreme National Security Council and the negotiating team.”
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has recently acted as the de facto top decision-making body in the country, as doubts swirl over the status of the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who was reportedly injured early in the war.
Mehr news agency also has said that the reported decision to reopen the strategic waterway needed “clarification” and “requires the (Supreme) Leader’s approval.”
Netanyahu says Israel is ‘not yet finished’ with Hezbollah
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel agreed to a temporary ceasefire in Lebanon “at the request of my friend President Trump,” but said the campaign against Hezbollah is not yet complete.
Netanyahu claimed Israel had destroyed about “90%” of Hezbollah’s missile and rocket stockpiles, but added “we have not yet finished” dismantling the group.
His statement came shortly before Trump said, in a social media post, that Israel was prohibited by the U.S. from bombing Lebanon any longer, adding: “Enough is enough!!!”
Trump claims Iran agrees to ‘never close the Strait of Hormuz again’
Iran has not made any public comment suggesting it has offered such assurances.
The blocking of most tankers that use the critical waterway, through which about 20% of the world’s crude flows on a typical day, has led to a global surge in fuel prices and has impacted other facets of the global economy.
The U.S. is far less reliant than Asia and Europe on Persian Gulf energy.
Still, the closure of the strait contributed to the largest monthly inflation increase in the U.S. in four years last month.
Oil tumbles 10% and the Dow soars more than 1,000 points
Oil prices fell by 10%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 1,020 points after Iran said the Strait of Hormuz is fully open, which would allow oil tankers to exit the Persian Gulf again and carry crude to customers worldwide.
The S&P 500 jumped 1.3% in morning trading Friday as U.S. stocks race toward the finish of a third straight week of big gains. The Nasdaq composite climbed 1.5%. Stocks have rallied 12% since late March on hopes that the United States and Iran can avoid a worst-case scenario for the global economy.
