Iran Announces Hormuz Strait Fully Open During Ceasefire

ILLUSTRATION/DOK US

JAKARTA - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday announced that commercial and shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz would be fully opened during the ceasefire.

"Given the ceasefire in Lebanon, the traffic for all commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz is declared to be fully open during the remaining ceasefire time," Araghchi said.

The Iranian Foreign Minister said that the shipping lanes that were opened were in accordance with the coordination as announced by the port and maritime authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Responding to Iran's announcement, US President Donald Trump expressed appreciation for Tehran's decision.

"Iran just announced the Strait of Hormuz is open to full traffic. Thank you!" Trump said in his post on the Truth Social platform, referring to the Strait of Hormuz as "the Iranian Strait".

However, after a while, President Trump said again on Truth Social that his party would continue to block the Iranian port until negotiations with the country were fully completed.

"The naval blockade will remain in full force against Iran, until the moment when transactions with Iran are 100 percent completed," Trump said in the next post.

However, Trump is optimistic that the move will not last long, given that "most of the negotiating points have been negotiated."

The US and Iran have held the first round of negotiations on Saturday (11/4) in Islamabad, Pakistan, after President Trump announced that he had reached an agreement with Tehran on a two-week ceasefire.

However, on Sunday morning (12/4), US Vice President J. D. Vance, as the head of the US delegation, stated that Iran and the US failed to reach an agreement in the negotiations and the US delegation returned without results.

Following the failure of the initial negotiations, Trump deployed the US Navy to blockade the Strait of Hormuz.

Meanwhile, according to a report by Axios, quoted by RIA Novosti, the second round of negotiations between the US and Iran will take place in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Sunday (19/4).

Then on Thursday, Trump announced that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to start a 10-day ceasefire following talks between the Lebanese and Israeli delegations mediated by the US in Washington DC.