After the opening of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran, US President Donald Trump has extended gratitude to Pakistan, its “great” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, calling them “two fantastic people”.
As a result of peace initiative led by Pakistan, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said that in line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz is “declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire, on the coordinated route as already announced by the Ports and Maritime Organisation of the Islamic Republic of Iran”.
US President Trump also thanks Iran for opening the Strait of Hormuz.
In a statement on X, Trump said that Iran has announced the complete opening of the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait of Hormuz is fully ready for traffic. Thank you, Iran.
US President Donald Trump has said that the American naval blockade will remain in place “until our transaction with Iran is 100 per cent complete”.
President Donald Trump on Friday welcomed Iran's announcement that the crucial Strait of Hormuz will reopen to shipping, but said a US blockade of Iranian ports would continue until a peace deal is signed.
"THANK YOU!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, saying that Iran had announced the narrow waterway was "FULLY OPEN AND READY FOR FULL PASSAGE."
In a second message a few minutes later, Trump posted that "The naval blockade will remain in full force and effect as it pertains to Iran, only, until our transaction with Iran is 100% complete."
"This process should go very quickly in that most of the points are already negotiated," Trump said, using his trademark style of all-capital letters.
Trump had said to reporters on Thursday that a peace deal with Iran was "very close" despite the fact that talks led by Vice President JD Vance in Pakistan at the weekend did not reach any breakthrough.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had announced earlier Friday that the strait, vital for the global trade in oil and other commodities, will remain "completely open" as long as a ceasefire in the Middle East lasts.
It wasn't immediately clear if he was referring to a 10-day truce agreed by Lebanon and Israel that went into effect at midnight or an earlier two-week truce between Iran and the United States that began on April 8.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump adds, “This process should go very quickly in that most of the points are already negotiated.”
US President Donald Trump said Friday that Iran had agreed to never again shut the Strait of Hormuz, during a string of social media posts indicating a peace deal with Tehran was near.
"Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again. It will no longer be used as a weapon against the World," Trump said on his Truth Social network, after Iran earlier said the crucial sea passage would remain open during a Middle East ceasefire.
Meanwhile, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, speaking in a televised address, says that Israel has been “forced to declare a ceasefire” through what he described as strong diplomacy, and said it had “no right to attack Hezbollah and other fronts in Lebanon,” Al Jazeera reports.
During his address, he also thanked Pakistan for what he called its dedicated efforts to help guide diplomacy while preserving “the dignity and pride of Iran”.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump told AFP that there were "no sticking points" left for a peace deal with Iran, adding that an agreement was "very close."
Trump's comments came after a series of social media posts in which he touted progress on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending Iran's nuclear program.
"We're very close. Looks like it's going to be very good for everybody. And we're very close to having a deal," Trump said in a brief telephone call with AFP from Las Vegas.
"The strait's going to be open, they already are open. And things are going very well."
A first round of US-Iran talks in Pakistan last weekend ended without a peace deal, but Trump has said a second round could happen soon.
Trump has said the core US demand is that Iran should never be able to develop a nuclear weapon, and he said on Thursday that Iran had agreed to turn over its stock of enriched uranium.
Asked what the remaining sticking points for a deal were, Trump replied, "No sticking points at all."
When asked why he was unable to declare a deal at this point after his string of optimistic posts, Trump said he wanted an agreement on paper.
"I don't do that, I get it in writing," Trump added.
IRGC imposes conditions for passage through Strait of Hormuz
Iran’s Fars news agency reports that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has imposed a series of conditions for passage through the Strait of Hormuz until the end of the ongoing ceasefire.
According to the IRGC Navy’s X account, the conditions are as follows:
Civilian vessels are only allowed to transit through the route designated by Iran.
The passage of military vessels through the strait remains prohibited.
All transit is permitted only with authorisation from the naval forces of the IRGC.
The IRGC says this transit is taking place in line with the “battlefield silence period” agreement and following the implementation of the Lebanon ceasefire.