After announcing that the Strait of Hormuz is open, Iran said it would close the vital waterway again unless the United States lifted its blockade
Iran will close the Hormuz Strait again if the United States maintains a blockade of Iranian ports, Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said today (Saturday).
“With the continuation of the blockade, the Strait of Hormuz will not remain open,” Ghalibaf wrote on X, adding that passage through the waterway would be along routes determined by Tehran and depend on Iranian authorization.
The statement came hours after Iran announced ships would be allowed to transit the Strait and after US President Donald Trump said his country would keep up its blockade until US and Iranian negotiators agreed to a long-term peace deal, dw.com reports.
However, US President Donald Trump said he may pull out of the ceasefire with Iran if a long-term deal to end the war is not agreed upon by Wednesday.
“Maybe I won’t extend it, but the blockade (on Iranian ports) is going to remain,” Trump told reporters Friday on Air Force One en route to Washington from Phoenix, Arizona.
“So you have a blockade, and unfortunately we have to start dropping bombs again,” he added.
Trump also said, without elaborating, there had been some “pretty good news” regarding Iran.
Cryptically, he also announced he would make a public statement today (Saturday), saying only that it would not be about Iran.
Meanwhile, the United States renewed a waiver allowing countries to purchase sanctioned Russian oil and petroleum products at sea for approximately one month.
The Treasury Department posted the license on its website late Friday, allowing countries to purchase Russian oil loaded on vessels from Friday through May 16.
The license is part of the Trump administration’s effort to control global energy prices, which shot higher during the US-Israeli war with Iran and recently slightly dropped on news of a temporary ceasefire for peace negotiations.
It replaces a 30-day waiver that expired on April 11. The license excludes transactions involving Iran, Cuba, and North Korea.
On Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had said Washington would not be renewing the waivers for Russian and Iranian oil. The Iranian waiver is set to expire on Sunday.
US lawmakers from both political parties slammed the administration, saying the sanctions waivers would help the economies of Iran and Russia while they are at war with the US and Ukraine, respectively.
