Dubai, Apr 17 (AP) US President Donald Trump and Iran’s foreign minister said Friday that 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 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 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 war.
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 Friday 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.
While oil prices fell on hopes of a deal, the head of the International Energy Agency warned that energy shocks could get worse if the Strait of Hormuz did not reopen soon.
Iran closed the crucial waterway, through which a fifth of the world’s oil normally passes, shortly after the war began. Europe has “maybe six weeks or so” of jet fuel left and broader economic consequences will grow the longer the strait is closed, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol told The Associated Press on Thursday.
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.
Israel says it will keep troops in Lebanon
Israel’s hard-line Defence Minister Israel Katz warned on Friday that Israel plans to respect the ceasefire even though attempts to completely disarm Hezbollah in southern Lebanon are “not yet complete”.
Katz said that Israel would continue to hold all the places it is currently stationed, including a buffer zone extending 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border with Israel into southern Lebanon. He said that many homes in the area would be destroyed and Lebanese residents will not return to the area.
Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he agreed to the ceasefire “to advance” peace efforts with Lebanon, but also said Israeli troops would not withdraw.
Israeli forces have engaged in fierce battles with Hezbollah in the border area as they pushed into southern Lebanon to create what officials have called a “security zone”.
“That is where we are, and we are not leaving,” he said.
Hezbollah has said that Lebanese people have “the right to resist” Israeli occupation of their land and that their actions “will be determined based on how developments unfold.”
The US State Department said that according to the agreement, Israel reserves the right to defend itself “at any time, against planned, imminent or ongoing attacks.” But otherwise, Israel “will not carry out any offensive military operations against Lebanese targets, including civilian, military, and other state targets.”
Trump announced the agreement as a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, but a Hezbollah official said the ceasefire was a result of negotiations between the US and Iran.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly.
Israel and Hezbollah have fought several wars and have been fighting on and off since the day after the start of the Gaza war. Israel and Lebanon reached a deal to end that war in November 2024, but Israel has kept up near-daily strikes in what it says is an effort to prevent the Iran-backed militant group from regrouping. That escalated into another invasion after Hezbollah again began firing missiles at Israel in response to its war on Iran.
Flurry of diplomacy led up to Lebanon ceasefire
The agreement came after a meeting between Israel’s and Lebanon’s ambassadors in Washington and a flurry of subsequent phone calls from Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to a White House official.
They were the first direct diplomatic talks between the two countries in decades. Hezbollah had opposed direct talks between Lebanon and Israel.
Trump spoke Wednesday evening with Netanyahu, who agreed to a ceasefire with certain terms, according to the official, who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Rubio then called Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, who got on board. Trump then spoke with Aoun, and again with Netanyahu.
The State Department worked with both governments to formulate a memorandum of understanding for the truce.
Pakistan army chief meets with Iranian parliament speaker
Pakistan’s army chief met Thursday with Iran’s parliament speaker as part of efforts to press for an extension to a ceasefire that has paused almost seven weeks of war between Israel, the US and Iran.
Even as the US blockade on Iranian ports and renewed Iranian threats strained the ceasefire, regional officials reported progress, telling AP the United States and Iran had an “in-principle agreement” to extend it to allow for more diplomacy. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations.
Mediators are pushing for a compromise on three main sticking points: Iran’s nuclear programme, the Strait of Hormuz and compensation for wartime damages, according to a regional official involved in the mediation efforts.
Trump suggested the ceasefire could be extended
“If we’re close to a deal, would I extend?” Trump said in an exchange with reporters. “Yeah, I would do that.” (PTI)
