The Strait of Hormuz is open for all commercial ships after the agreement of a cease-fire in Lebanon, Iran and the United States said on Friday.
Oil prices dropped soon after the announcement, though Iran said ships would have to take a “coordinated route” that runs close to Iran’s coast.
Shortly after Iran’s announcement, President Trump responded in social media post: “IRAN HAS JUST ANNOUNCED THAT THE STRAIT OF IRAN IS FULLY OPEN AND READY FOR FULL PASSAGE. THANK YOU!”But later Mr. Trump said that a U.S. blockade of Iranian ships leaving the strait, which began on Monday, would remain in place. Iran said on Wednesday that it would retaliate against shipping in the Middle East if the blockade remained.
It’s unclear to what extent the United States will continue to enforce its blockade on ships from Iranian ports, and what that would mean for shipping in the strait.
Still, the statements that the waterway is now open raised hopes among tanker owners eager to resume moving oil and gas out of the Persian Gulf.
“Assuming this holds, then I think it’s great news,” said Jerry Kalogiratos, chief executive of Capital Clean Energy Carriers, a shipping company that operates oil and gas tankers.
Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, fell more than 10 percent, to below $90 a barrel, its lowest level in more than a month, though it remains more than 20 percent higher than before the war started. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, also fell over 10 percent, to below $84 per barrel.
Stocks, which have rapidly recovered from a war-induced sell-off in March, rose after the announcement. The S&P 500 was up 1 percent in Friday morning trading in New York.
Before the war, a fifth of the world’s oil and a significant share of its liquefied natural gas traveled through the Strait of Hormuz. But tanker traffic slowed to a trickle after Iran began attacking ships early in a war, causing a shortage of oil and gas in world markets that drove up the costs of gasoline, diesel and cooking gas.
Iran’s foreign minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, said in a post on X that the strait would be “completely open” for the “remaining period of cease-fire.” He did not specify whether that was the 10-day cease-fire that began in Lebanon at midnight or the one between the United States and Iran, which is scheduled to end on April 21.
Iran has said during the war that the strait is open to “non-hostile” vessels. And experts on the Strait of Hormuz said Mr. Araghchi’s statement should be treated somewhat cautiously, partly because he specified that the strait would be open to ships using a route — running close to Iran’s coast and Larak Island — that the country’s maritime agency announced this month.
“That does not equate to freedom of navigation,” said Martin Navias, an author of “Tanker Wars: The Assault on Merchant Shipping During the Iran-Iraq Crisis.”
Before the war, around 130 ships a day passed through the strait, using two main lanes that are different from the route specified by Mr. Araghchi. To maximize the flow of tankers through the waterway, shipping analysts said vessels would have to return to the two main lanes. But for shipowners to use the lanes, they would have to be certain that they are free of mines.
According to U.S. officials, Iran had not been able to locate all of the mines it laid in the strait and lacked the capability to remove them.
On Friday, Mr. Trump said on social media that, with the help of the United States, Iran “has removed, or is removing, all sea mines!”
U.S. forces began their blockade, situated east of the Strait of Hormuz, to stop Iranian and Iran-linked ships. Iran had been exporting crude during the war at volumes that were similar to those before the conflict.
U.S. Central Command posted a video on Friday of U.S. officials directing a merchant vessels to return to an Iranian port. It was one of 19 ships that have complied with direction from U.S. forces to turn around and return to Iran, Central Command said on social media. “ZERO vessels have evaded U.S. forces during the blockade,” it said.
Iran’s assurances were not likely to be sufficient for major shipping companies, which are hesitant to send ships through the strait, even ones that have been stranded there for weeks, without more certain security guarantees. Hapag-Lloyd, the fifth largest container shipping company, had convened a crisis meeting to assess the latest developments, the company’s spokesman said.
“On paper, this looks great,” said Alexis Ellender, an analyst at Kpler, a marine data tracking firm. But he added that he expected it would to take some time — weeks, not days — before there was a significant upturn in the volume of ships going through.
But some smaller companies may be willing to restart traffic if they secure affordable insurance cover. Around 900 ships have been stranded in the Persian Gulf over the course of the war, according to a New York Times analysis of Kpler data.
One Istanbul-based ship operator with a stranded ship, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media, said that he would consider moving it out of the strait as soon as Friday if he could secure insurance coverage, but he expected it to take several days.
Peter Eavis reports on the business of moving stuff around the world.
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