Iran threatens to close Strait of Hormuz again if US blockade continues

Iran threatened Saturday to again close the strategic Strait of Hormuz if the United States continues its blockade of Iranian ports, after announcing a day earlier the full reopening of the waterway to commercial vessels.

The resumption of traffic in the strait was welcomed by markets. In Washington, U.S. President Donald Trump told AFP that a peace agreement was “very close,” asserting that Iran had agreed to hand over its enriched uranium, a key point in the negotiations.

“We’re going to go get it, we’re going to bring it to the United States soon,” the Republican said at a Turning Point USA conservative gathering in Phoenix, Arizona.

But Tehran denied agreeing to transfer its highly enriched uranium stocks and warned that the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas usually transits, could again be closed.

“If the blockade continues, the Strait of Hormuz will not remain open,” said Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of Iran’s parliament, on X.

He added that any ships crossing the strait would, in any case, need “Iran’s authorization.”

Iran’s announcement Friday of the full reopening of the strait to commercial ships during the cease-fire, at a time when a truce between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon is being put in place, sparked cautious hope for peace in the Middle East.

It triggered a drop in oil prices and a rebound in European and U.S. stock markets after five weeks of war brought devastation to the global economy.

“Thank you!” Donald Trump quickly wrote in a series of messages on his Truth Social platform, specifying that the American blockade of Iranian ports would remain “fully in effect” until negotiations conclude and that it would continue if no agreement is reached by the end of the talks.

The talks are ongoing, under Pakistan’s auspices, to organize a second session of discussions between Tehran and Washington, after the first was held in Islamabad last weekend.

This is the first time since the start of Israeli-American strikes on Iran on Feb. 28 that weapons have fallen silent on all fronts.

In Lebanon, many displaced people left Friday to return to their homes in the south or Beirut’s southern suburbs, strongholds of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement, ignoring warnings from the Israeli government.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel was “not yet finished” working to disarm Hezbollah. The Israeli army remains in Lebanon in a 10-kilometer-deep strip from the border.

But Donald Trump, who secured the 10-day truce, raised his voice to Israel: “Israel will no longer bomb Lebanon. They are FORBIDDEN to do so by the United States. Enough!!!” he said.

However, Lebanon’s national news agency reported one fatality in an Israeli strike in the south. Israel did not immediately respond.

Toward “a permanent agreement”

The cessation of hostilities began Friday at midnight (2100 GMT Thursday), after a month and a half of conflict that left nearly 2,300 dead on the Lebanese side and forced more than a million people to flee.

On Friday, the southern highway filled with a long line of cars, roofs loaded with mattresses and furniture.

On her way home, Amani Aatrash, 37, expressed “a feeling of pride and victory.”

“No Israeli soldier should remain on our land. They must withdraw, and then we can live in peace.”

Lebanon is now working toward “a permanent agreement” with Israel, according to President Joseph Aoun, who promised to “protect the people’s rights” and not “give up an iota of national territory” in the talks.

Up until the final moments before the truce began, strikes occurred on both sides.

At least 13 people were killed, 35 wounded, and 15 were reported missing after Israeli bombing of Sour, according to the city’s municipality.

Hezbollah, which attacked Israel in early March in retaliation for the Israeli-American strike on Iran, has warned its fighters remain “with their finger on the trigger” and wary “of the enemy’s treachery.”