Iran reopens Strait of Hormuz, but Trump says blockade will stay in force
By: KAREEM CHEHAYEB, AAMER MADHANI and ELENA BECATOROS (AP News)
President Trump is circling back to the negotiations that were on the table on Feb. 27, 2026, before the attacks on Iran. It is beginning to look like the war with Iran only allowed hardliners to kill thousands of people, destroy several hundred billions of property, and wreak havoc on the global economy.
Trump's war of choice has been all cost and no gain. Trump spent untold billions of dollars to circle back to the same negotiating table and argue over the same negotiating points. Well, done, Field Marshal Bone Spur.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
April 17, 2026, 11:48 AM CDT, BEIRUT (AP) — Iran said Friday it fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels, but President Donald Trump said the American blockade on Iranian ships and ports "will remain in full force" until Tehran reaches a deal with the U.S., including on its nuclear program.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X that the crucial waterway, through which about 20% of the world's oil is shipped, was now fully open to commercial vessels, as a 10-day truce between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon appeared to hold.
Trump initially celebrated the Iranian announcement, posting on social media that the strait was "fully open and ready for full passage." But minutes later, he issued another post saying the U.S. Navy's blockade would continue "UNTIL SUCH TIME AS OUR TRANSACTION WITH IRAN IS 100% COMPLETE."
The president also said Iran, with help from the U.S., is working to remove all mines from the strait.
Trump imposed the blockade earlier this week after Iran restricted traffic through the strait due to fighting in Lebanon, which Iran claimed was a breach of the Pakistan-brokered ceasefire reached between the U.S., Israel and Iran.
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At the time, Trump said the blockade would enforce an "all or none" policy in hopes of pressuring Iran to reopen the strait.
The president's decision to continue the blockade despite Iran's announcement appeared aimed at sustaining pressure on Tehran as the fate of the two-week ceasefire reached last week remained uncertain. The ceasefire has paused almost seven weeks of war between Israel, the U.S. and Iran.
Direct talks between the U.S. and Iran last weekend were inconclusive, as the two nations could not come to agreement about Iran's nuclear program and other points.
Iranian media challenge announcement about Strait of Hormuz
Two semiofficial news agencies in Iran seemed to challenge Araghchi’s announcement about the strait.
Considered close with Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, the Fars news agency issued a series of posts on X criticizing what it said was a lack of clarity over the decision to reopen the waterway and a "strange silence from the Supreme National Security Council and the negotiating team."
Iran's Supreme National Security Council has recently acted as the country's de facto top decision-making body, amid doubts over the status of the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who was reportedly wounded early in the war.
The Mehr news agency also said the decision to reopen the strait needed "clarification" and required the supreme leader's approval.
Truce in Lebanon could help US-Iran peace efforts
Oil prices fell Friday on hopes that the U.S. and Iran were drawing closer to a deal. The head of the International Energy Agency had warned that the energy crisis could get worse if the strait did not reopen.
The truce in Lebanon could clear one major obstacle to a deal between Iran, the United States and Israel to end weeks of devastating war. But it was unclear to what extent Hezbollah would abide by a deal it did not play a role in negotiating and which will leave Israeli troops occupying a stretch of southern Lebanon.
Trump said in another post that Israel is "prohibited" by the U.S. from further strikes on Lebanon and that "enough is enough" in the Israel-Hezbollah war. The White House did not immediately respond to a question about whether the prohibition spans both offensive and defensive strikes.
Shortly before Trump's post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel agreed to the ceasefire in Lebanon "at the request of my friend President Trump," but that the campaign against Hezbollah is not complete.
He claimed Israel had destroyed about 90% of Hezbollah's missile and rocket stockpiles and added that Israeli forces "have not finished yet" with the dismantling of the group.
Celebrations in Beirut
In Beirut, celebratory gunshots rang out at the start of the truce. Displaced families began moving toward southern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs despite warnings by officials not to return to their homes until it became clear whether the ceasefire would hold.
The Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon had reported sporadic artillery shelling in some parts of southern Lebanon in the hours after the ceasefire took effect.
An Israeli strike in the area of Kounine hit a car and a motorcycle, killing one person and wounding three, including a Syrian citizen, the Lebanese Health Ministry said Friday. It was the first airstrike and first fatality reported since the truce took effect.
There was no immediate response from the Israeli army or Hezbollah.
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 as a "historic day for Lebanon" and expressed confidence the war with Iran would soon end.
"I will say the war in Iran is going along swimmingly," Trump said in Las Vegas. "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 with strikes on Lebanon. Israel said that deal did not cover Lebanon.
The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,290 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members have also been killed.
Israel says it will keep troops in Lebanon
Israeli forces have engaged in fierce battles with Hezbollah as they pushed into southern Lebanon to create what officials have called a "security zone."
Israel's hard-line Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel would continue to hold all the places it is currently stationed, including a buffer zone extending 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border into southern Lebanon. He said many homes in the area would be destroyed and Lebanese residents will not return.
Hezbollah has said Lebanese people have "the right to resist" Israeli occupation and that their actions "will be determined based on how developments unfold."
Israel and Hezbollah have fought several wars and have been fighting on and off since the day after the start of the Gaza war. Israel and Lebanon reached a deal to end that war in November 2024, but Israel has kept up near-daily strikes in what it says is an effort to prevent the Iran-backed militant group from regrouping. That escalated into another invasion after Hezbollah again began firing missiles at Israel in response to its war on Iran.
Regional officials report progress in talks
Regional officials told The Associated Press that the United States and Iran had an "in-principle agreement" to extend the ceasefire to allow for more diplomacy. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations.
Mediators are pushing for compromise on three main sticking points: Iran's nuclear program, the Strait of Hormuz and compensation for wartime damages, according to a regional official involved in the mediation efforts.
Trump on Friday suggested Iran has agreed to hand over its enriched uranium.
"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," he said in a post. Nuclear dust is the shorthand Trump frequently uses to refer to the highly enriched uranium that is believed buried under nuclear sites the U.S. bombed during last year's 12-day war between Israel and Iran.
If true, it would be a major concession from Iran and would lock in a key demand of the U.S. to end the conflict. But neither Iran nor countries acting as intermediaries in the conflict have said Tehran has made such an agreement.
Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Ben Finley in Washington, Samy Magdy and Amir Rajdy in Cairo, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Abby Sewell in Beirut and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.
- KAREEM CHEHAYEB is an Associated Press reporter in Beirut.
- AAMER MADHANI covers the White House for The Associated Press. He is based in Washington.
- ELENA BECATOROS oversees coverage of southeast Europe for The Associated Press, with frequent assignments to the Middle East and Afghanistan. Based in Athens, Greece, she has worked around the world, including covering war in the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan and Ukraine.
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President Trump did not win this one. Trump will spin, twist, and lie about a false victory. But the facts speak for themselves.
President Trump placed America at the end of the line. And Trump Republicans think that deserves an attaboy?
Lol. How can anyone possibly claim this?
If the Iranian military ops end, it will be our nation's best military performance since WWII. The success is about at the 99% percentile of possible outcomes. Iran's leadership, millitary, and economy are in tatters and will take all of Iran's attention to rebuild over the next decade. Our strategic rival has seen it's military systems and regional proxies humiliated as it's rival (the US) has taken control of a region it needs for energy. The operation has been a strategic and tactical grand slam.
The Idea that we did not win is ridiculous and simply an admission of TDS and shows a willingness to ignore reality rather than admit the blindingly obvious.
If President Trump circles back to where he began then how is this a win for Trump?
How many carrier strike groups did the Iranian navy have? How many stealth fighters and strategic bombers were in the Iranian air force? How many reconnaissance satellites did Iran have?
Why would an All Star NBA team beating a middle school basketball team be impressive?
Iran hasn't surrendered. Iran has only agreed to return to the negotiations that were under way before Trump ordered the attacks. Apparently the only negotiating point that has changed is Iran transferring its stockpile of enriched Uranium rather than diluting the stockpile.
The Iranian regime is still in place. The IRGC is still in place. A popular uprising seems less likely today than before the bombing started. The Iranian proxies are still active (and were not part of the US operation). Chinese influence has made inroads into the Middle East because of the war. The Arab alliances with the US have been weakened. Europe is pissed that resources were stripped away from Ukraine. The Asian rim countries are pissed because US security forces were stripped from their protection. The war has increased the cost of servicing US debt. The war has depleted US stockpiles, degraded military readiness, and weakened our capability to defend ourselves.
The idea that this is a win for Trump or the United States relies heavily on Polly Anna blind optimism. The war has not served American interests and has not provided any benefit for the United States.
Can you point me to your posts from before the war explaining what a cakewalk it would be...
A popular uprising seems less likely today than before the bombing started. The Iranian proxies are still active (and were not part of the US operation). Chinese influence has made inroads into the Middle East because of the war. The Arab alliances with the US have been weakened.
This is pure gaslighting.
Before the war? Who thought President Trump would be stupid enough to start a war? But we can go back to Operation Midnight Hammer.
There's this seed from June 25, 2025:
There's this seed from June 27, 2025:
Here's one from
Here's one from
Not according to news reporting. I've been seeding some material related to the shift of influence in the Middle East and the attack on the petrodollar. I try to stay informed. How about you?
Hahahahahaha! How can you say that a return to the status quo, whoops, no, it's not even that, is somehow victory?
Trump has made the straits of Hormuz a political chip whereas it was not prior to this conflict.
That is a loss.
Everything this man touches turns to shit.
[✘]
Trump declared victory over Iran 13 times on Truth Social this morning. That site doesnt allow copy and paste, but anyone interested can see for themselves. There is something seriously wrong with this man.
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) | Truth Social
So?
I have to wonder how many people that follow Trump on Truth Social are Trump supporters and how many are Trump haters looking for their daily outrage fix.
Personally, I have never even considered following him.
I am not on any sites such as X or TS, and the only time I see his posts is when John posts them.
It would really be much easier for some to just not follow him. Trauma relieved instantly.
Blotting out reality and substituting a more pleasant false reality is no way to go through life.
Agree. I can only assume doing something every day that you know will (rightly or wrongly) upset and outrage you seems a little self destructive. Especially if there is nothing you can realistically do about it.
The reality is life was good before Trump, life is good during Trump and life will be good after Trump. Looking for things to be outraged over is no way to go through life
You spelled poutraged wrong again.
Perfect example of ignoring reality.
Trump is a disaster. Having a psychopath as PotUS —the most powerful office on the planet— who damages this nation weekly is a big deal.
Rational people recognize when things are not going well and typically can identify the problem.
Defending Trump is irresponsible, irrational, and unpatriotic.
Trump is obviously mentally disturbed. Sticking your fingers in your ears so you dont hear it is not an answer.
The reality is life was good before Trump, life is good during Trump and life will be good after Trump. Looking for things to be outraged over is no way to go through life
How has your life changed?
Rational people can recognize hyperbole, partisanship and emotional displays.
Is that your professional diagnosis?
Trump is an eccentric asshole.
Anything more than that needs to be diagnosed by people other than CNN and MSNBC talking heads or partisans.
My life has not changed at all.
I still have the same job, my wife does too.
What a politician does has no bearing in my life. To say that a politician has degraded ones lifestyle is disingenuous at best.
How your life is lived is up to you. Those that let politicians drive how they live have probably allowed this the majority of their lives.
On disclaimer, though...
My wife went on SS this past year and we forgot to file the voluntary federal tax withholding, so we owe a chunk of change because of that mistake.
No one to blame but ourselves.
Besides beyond stupid, but what do we know....
You are paying higher prices. Your nation continues to fall deeper into debt. The PotUS is a lawless, vindictive psychopath who is ruining the goodwill built by decades of former presidents. And with the latest blunder in Iran, you will suffer the financial consequences like everyone else.
You have all sorts of complaints about 'leftists', yet magically, nothing Trump does wrong (which is plenty) is even recognized. That is irrational.
Note that this is a news site, and Trump is in the news daily. Given that he is routinely engaging in damaging words and deeds, he will be criticized.
Instead of engaging in adult discussion about Trump, you spend most of your time writing posts whining that people are criticizing Trump and offering vague and often irrational 'arguments' to try to defend him.
Buy a vowel.
Lol
Funny how many left wingers will claim our lives have been thrown into turmoil over higher gas prices and a short 6-7 week war, but never made that claim about their lives after gas was more than a dollar more a few years ago than it is today, and 7 month war with Lebanon and Syria.
We were told gas was a short lived blip and to suck it up and we were racist if we criticized their king about Lebanon and Syria.
Fucking hypocrits
And of course, you exaggerate into fantasy to construct a strawman to argue.
The president of the USA is an incompetent lunatic who is damaging this nation weekly and even harming the global economy. The damage he has done economically, morally, reputationally, legally, etc. to this nation should offend you. This guy is out of control, and you absurdly pretend everything is just fine.
You ignore all that this lunatic is doing and instead whine endlessly about 'leftists' and past D administrations.
Your posts labeling others as hypocrites are pure projection.
“ but never made that claim about their lives after gas was more than a dollar more a few years”
I remember it well. Inflation at it’s highest level in 40 years because of reckless spending, including the two trillion dollar infrastructure bill and gas prices doubled because dipshit promised to put big oil out of business on the campaign trail. And all we heard was “the economy is great.”
You remember the bad of 2022 real well. Do you remember 2023, and 2024? Now, do you remember 2025 (most notably the idiotic tariffs)? Do you remember 2026 thus far (most notably the idiotic war with Iran and its immediate and long-term consequences)?
It is easy to cherry-pick and find bad and then ignore all the good. But how can you do that and consider yourself to be an honest analyst of reality?
Trump is a disaster. You apparently refuse to recognize this incredibly obvious fact.
Don't forget about the "Green New Deal" that has been admitted by several liberals that it had nothing to do with the environment and nothing more than a slush fund for liberal wish lists.
When have we not? When Biden was President you constantly described 3% inflation as normal. Inflation under the first 14 months of Trump II has been lower than the last 14 months of Biden .Why did inflation only start bothering you when Trump was President?
nd with the latest blunder in Iran, you will suffer the financial consequences like everyone else.
Lol. The refusal to acknowledge reality is amazing.
“You remember the bad of 2022 real well. Do you remember 2023, and 2024?”
The bad of 2022 stretched into 2023 and 2024. Even though the economy is still not back to pre-biden levels it is slowly getting there.
3% inflation is normal. You are not aware of this??
I spoke of prices, not the rate of inflation. Inflation is measured by all prices and is affected by lag, by businesses absorbing costs, by changes in demand, etc. Not all prices are affected by Trump's tariffs. Trump promised he would lower prices (foolish), yet he took measures to do the opposite.
Further, this idiocy with Iran has raised oil prices, and that will indeed affect inflation. It will not be immediate (except for market-driven prices such as gasoline), but it is inevitable unless this ends quickly and there is not too much disruption of the supply chain (it may be too late already).
Biden's inflation is worthy of criticism, so if you are trying with this stupid fucking attempt to claim hypocrisy (since you cannot produce a rational defense of Trump), then you would need to show where I defended the high inflation of Biden. You will fail. So stop inventing and instead deal honestly with what I write.
Says a guy who defends Trump no matter what. You have zero ground to suggest anyone is not dealing with reality.
And of course ...
The point, Gazoo, is that you cherry-pick the bad of Biden and flat-out ignore the continuous bad of Trump.
Now, do you remember 2025 (most notably the idiotic tariffs)? Do you remember 2026 thus far (most notably the idiotic war with Iran and its immediate and long-term consequences)?
It is easy to cherry-pick and find bad and then ignore all the good. But how can you do that and consider yourself to be an honest analyst of reality?
Trump is a disaster. You apparently refuse to recognize this incredibly obvious fact.
No, you missed the point. It’s as obvious as a bat to the face that i consider the bad of the biden years to be much worse than the bad of the trump years.
Exactly. Prices go up, prices go down go down and we have inflation so overall it goes up slowly.
I am still retired and collecting SS
Yep. The funny thing is the litany of how Trump is making life worse but when you come right down to it they cant say exactly how.
Well said
Oooops
Yes, it is called inflation.
Yes, and neither side seems to care.
Yes
Of course he will, whether he deserves it or not.
You obviously mean get in the bubble and whine about him. There seems to be no rational discussion to be had. You either agree or there is something wrong with you or you are irresponsible, irrational, and unpatriotic. Yea, that is real adult like.
I don't care about the criticism but I will continue to call out the incessant whining where it is nothing but "Trump"
You were talking about adult discussion?
Great retort
Lol. I must have missed all the times you seed that when your fellow progressives complained about inflation hitting 3% last month. Could you show me?
p
rump promised he would lower prices (foolish), yet he took measures to do the opposite.
Do you imagine Joe Biden didn't do that?
n you would need to show where I defended the high inflation of Biden.
You spent years minimizing and normalizing it and now attack Trump's superior record. Why don't you admit what you do?
You have zero ground to suggest anyone is not dealing with reality
You just called the Iran war a blunder. That's pure TDS and impossible to square with reality at this point.
They did spend alot of time trying to convince people they were better off than they were and inflation was transitory.
Now they are spending as much time trying to tell you you your life is shit.
Yet when pressed they can't seem to be specific why their life is worse other than Trump
There was no exageration
Everything is just fine
Interesting. He seems to be pointing out the whining about Trump some folks are doing.
Yep, "don't believe what you see, believe what we tell you" was on the "news" every day.
Of course we know you believe that Biden years were worse no matter what Trump does or will do. That is the irrational aspect of which I speak.
There is that alternate reality again.
And the alternate reality strikes again.
You are yet again making shit up. 3% inflation is normal. It is obvious. Go look it up. Deliver any quote from me suggesting that 3% inflation is high. You will, of course, fail because you made it up.
Focus Sean, we are talking about Trump. Trump is the PotUS right now. Trump promised to lower prices so what does the moron do when he gets power --- imposes tariffs. What has he done to lower prices?
Clearly you are just trolling. You continue to make up shit that any rational member of this forum knows is bullshit.
Because it is. That you do not recognize it is the real TDS.
What you heard was that the 2023-24 economy was strong on main measures such as growth (GDP) and unemployment, but the overall price level remained high after the 2022 spike in inflation, and interest rates were still elevated. Prices and interest rates were bad, the rest was good. And the stock market, by the way, was also booming.
You heard that because that is what actually happened in the real world.
Your partisan fantasies are not reality.
Are you unfamiliar with your posting history? That you think you can square your constant hysteria over "increasing prices" while admitting it's normal is hilarious.
ocus Sean, we are talking about Trump.
I'm talking about over the top partisan hypocrisy with regards to Trump. Your constant defense of Biden's numbers that were objectively worse is relevant to that.
You continue to make up shit that any rational member of this forum knows is bullshit.
Any rational member of this forum knows your posing as a non partisan is bullshit.
t you do not recognize it is the real TDS
There is no rational argument in your favor. All you are doing is proving my point about your hypocrisy. You can't even admit the most glaringly obvious things when they paint Trump favorably. It is something to see people deny reality because of their Trump obsession.
The numbers don’t lie. What’s irrational is trying to deny it.
You clearly are making shit up.
A blatant lie. Again you resort to making shit up.
You are trolling. Partisans generally cannot conceive that someone could be non-partisan. For example, do you see me writing posts making negative claims about conservatives, Republicans (or, conversely, liberals, progressives, Democrats)? No. Do you see me talking about 'the left' or 'the right'? No. The only criticism I have made regarding the GOP is about the current GOP kowtowing to Trump. That is not a partisan criticism, it is a statement of fact pointing out how (and why) Congress has abdicated its responsibility to operate as a co-equal branch.
In the years I have posted, and that includes the years of Biden, where do you see me putting forth seeds or articles or posting comments that favor one political party over another? They exist only in your imagination.
The reason I know this is because I do not like political parties. Both parties have some views I support, but neither party fits what I believe is right. And the party system in the USA is nothing but a power-broker machine. Political parties fail the American people routinely. So the notion of partisanship ... carrying water for a political party ... is self-defeating. But you and other blind partisans just do not seem to understand that.
Further, when Biden and Trump were running, I favored Chris Sununu, When he dropped out I favored (and financially contributed to the campaign for) Haley. I would have voted for any of the GOP candidates over Biden (except Ramaswamy). Only when the GOP stupidly picked Trump did I switch to Biden and I was quite clear that he was the best way for me to use my vote against Trump. And by the same token, I would have likely voted for any D (Harris or whomever) because it is hard to imagine any candidate worse than Trump.
Since 2016, my comments have been based on the fact that Trump was dominant. So naturally my criticism will go against him and those who support him. One can superficially conclude that my net negative comments against Trump means that I am a progressive, D, but that would be based on a lack of critical thinking.
In short, you do not know what you are talking about. Just more trolling.
You are just posting bullshit claims.
Show these numbers. Make an argument. Actually contribute something of value rather than unsubstantiated, vague claims.
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