Manuel Balce Ceneta/Vahid Salemi/AP
By Matthew Robinson and Brendan Cole
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President Donald Trump has thanked Iran after it announced that the vital Strait of Hormuz had been reopened on Friday.
"Iran has just announced that the Strait of Iran is fully open and ready for full passage. Thank you," Trump wrote on Truth Social. He added that the naval blockade will remain in force "until such time as our transaction with Iran is 100% complete."
"This process should go very quickly in that most of the points are already negotiated," he said.
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Trump's comments follow a statement by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on X that the critical waterway had been "declared completely open" for the "remaining period of the ceasefire." The two-week ceasefire is set to expire on April 22.
The United States said it would begin a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz earlier this week, after Iran had effectively closed the waterway through which one-fifth of the world’s hydrocarbons transit. As a result, oil and natural gas prices spiked, raising jitters about global energy supplies.
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The cost of a barrel of Brent crude oil, the global benchmark, dropped suddenly on the news to below $90 a barrel, having been above $98 earlier in the day and well over $100 for the last few weeks.
"In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through [the] Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire, on the coordinated route as already announced by Ports and Maritime Organization of the Islamic Rep. of Iran," Araghchi said.
It comes a day after Trump teased a breakthrough with Iran, saying that Tehran has agreed to hand over “nuclear dust” buried from American strikes on atomic facilities last June. "Nuclear dust" refers to the U.S. president’s description of highly enriched uranium believed to be left underground after Operation Midnight Hammer. Iran has not confirmed Trump’s claim.
The attacks on Iran’s facilities at Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan last year destroyed most of Iran's centrifuges used to enrich uranium, according to the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
But the IAEA said that the enriched uranium is buried underground and its fate is a security concern for the U.S., because it could be used to create a nuclear weapon.
Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday: "The U.S.A. will get all Nuclear 'Dust,' created by our great B2 Bombers - No money will exchange hands in any way, shape, or form."
"This deal is in no way subject to Lebanon, either, but the USA will, separately, work with Lebanon, and deal with the Hezbollah situation in an appropriate manner. Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the U.S.A."
Trump had said the previous day that Iran had "agreed to give us back the nuclear dust that’s way underground because of the attack we made with the B-2 bombers."
Handing over its enriched uranium would be a significant concession, and any promise not to build a nuclear weapon could be a breakthrough in negotiations, if Trump’s claim that the U.S. has “a lot of agreement with Iran” proves correct.
Update 4/17/26, 10:16 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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