U.S President Donald Trump said on Monday that the Strait of Hormuz was “already partially opened” and would be “completely opened” by Friday as part of the agreement reached with Iran.
“I am very happy to say the deal’s all signed and the strait is already partially opened. They are doing a little hunt for a couple of mines they’ve already found. But essentially, ships are starting to go out now. On Friday, it will be completely opened. We got along very well with Iran,” Trump said during a bilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron after he arrived in France for the G7 Summit.
Trump provided an update on the movement of ships in the economically critical maritime passage through a post on his Truth Social platform.
“Ships are starting to move, many loaded up with Oil, out of the Strait of Hormuz. They are going along the Southern ‘Highway’, which is totally safe, secure, and pristine. There are other areas of travel, also,” he wrote.
Vance hopes for long-term toll-free transit
Vice President JD Vance told CNBC on Monday that he expected the latest deal to open the Strait of Hormuz without tolls for the long term.
“Our expectation is that the strait is going to be opened in a toll-free way for the long term, and that’s the sort of thing that we’re going to figure out in these technical negotiations,” said Vance.
He also said ship traffic through Hormuz had increased over the last 24 hours.
Matt Smith, Director of Commodity Research at the ship-tracking firm Kpler, said the firm did not observe a huge increase of transits or a mass departure from the Persian Gulf.
Iranian state media Tasnim news agency said Hormuz would open to toll-free transits for a 60-day period. Iran and Oman would reportedly manage the strait after the specified period.
