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Beirut: US President Donald Trump and Iran’s foreign minister have confirmed the Strait of Hormuz is now fully open to commercial vessels, as a 10-day truce in Lebanon appeared to hold.
The truce offered a pause in fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group and could clear one major obstacle to a deal between Iran and the United States and Israel to end weeks of devastating war.
But it remained unclear whether the militant group would recognise a deal it did not play a role in negotiating and which will leave Israeli troops occupying a stretch of southern Lebanon.
In a social media post, Trump said Iran had announced that the strait “is fully open and ready for full passage.”
Minutes earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X that the passage for all commercial vessels through the strait “is declared completely open” in line with the ceasefire in Lebanon. He said it would stay open for the remaining period of the ceasefire.
It was not immediately clear what that meant for the US blockade of the strait, but Trump said the blockade would “remain in full force” until Iran reaches a deal with the US to end the war.
The president, in an all-caps social media post, said that the US Navy’s blockade on Iranian ships and ports would remain in force “UNTIL SUCH TIME AS OUR TRANSACTION WITH IRAN IS 100% COMPLETE.”
“THIS PROCESS SHOULD GO VERY QUICKLY IN THAT MOST OF THE POINTS ARE ALREADY NEGOTIATED,” Trump added.
In response to the news, oil prices fell by more than ten per cent on Friday, and Wall Street is rallying toward another record.
Meanwhile, in Beirut, barrages of gunshots rang out across the city as residents fired into the air just after midnight to celebrate the beginning of the truce, and displaced families began moving toward southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs despite warnings by officials not to attempt to return to their homes until it became clear whether the ceasefire would hold.
A spokesperson for the UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon said that they have not observed any airstrikes since midnight, but accused the Israeli military of violating airspace and artillery shelling in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military did not immediately comment. According to the agreement shared by the State Department, Israel can act in self-defence against imminent attacks but cannot carry out offensive operations against southern Lebanon.
Trump heralded the deal a “historic day for Lebanon,” even as he expressed confidence that the war with Iran would soon end in a Las Vegas speech.
“I will say the war in Iran is going along swimmingly,” Trump said. “It should be ending pretty soon.”
An end to Israel’s war with Hezbollah was a key demand of Iranian negotiators, who previously accused Israel of breaking the current ceasefire deal with strikes on Lebanon. Israel said that deal did not cover Lebanon.
Pakistan’s army chief met Thursday with Iran’s parliament speaker as part of international efforts to press for an extension of the ceasefire.
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 US service members have also been killed.
AP
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