Strait of Hormuz Is Fully Open, Trump and Iran Announce

Displaced residents drive back to their villages in Zefta, southern Lebanon, following a ceasefire April 17 between Israel and Hezbollah. (Hassan Ammar/AP)

BEIRUT — U.S. President Donald Trump and Iran’s foreign minister said April 17 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 the militant group would recognize 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 U.S. blockade of the strait, but Trump said the blockade would “remain in full force” until Iran reaches a deal with the U.S. 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 U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon said April 17 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-defense 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.

In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire, on the coordinated route as already announced by Ports and Maritime Organisation of the Islamic Rep. of Iran. — Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) April 17, 2026

Pakistan’s army chief met April 16 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 April 16.

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 U.S. service members have also been killed.

Written by Kareem Cheyayeb, Abby Sewell and Melanie Lidman; Samy Magdy in Cairo and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.