President Donald Trump on Friday took a self-congratulatory victory lap after Iran announced that the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow waterway that Tehran had weaponized to retaliate against the U.S. by cutting off global oil supplies — was “completely open.”
The reopening could potentially end weeks of economic upheaval caused by skyrocketing fuel prices worldwide, but Trump’s war with Iran, in conjunction with Israel, remains in a fragile ceasefire heading into another weekend of negotiations.
The president took to Truth Social early Friday following the announcement by Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Araghchi, who wrote on X that “the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open” in light of the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon which had taken effect late Thursday.
Trump initially wrote that Iran had “JUST ANNOUNCED THAT THE STRAIT OF IRAN IS FULLY OPEN AND READY FOR FULL PASSAGE” before adding another post minutes later citing the correct name of the waterway and declaring it “COMPLETELY OPEN AND READY FOR BUSINESS AND FULL PASSAGE” while claiming the U.S. blockade against Tehran would persist until what he described as “our transaction” was “100% complete.”
He also called the development a “great victory” in a phone call with USA Today and declared the weeks-long dispute over the strait to be “over.”
Separately, he told the television network NewsNation that Iran had also agreed to cease enriching uranium and claimed in yet another Truth Social post that the United States would take possession of what he called “Nuclear ‘Dust’” — Iran’s already-enriched uranium supply — while denying that the agreement he was touting had anything to do with the Israeli-Lebanese ceasefire, despite the Iranian foreign minister’s specific statements to the contrary.
“Again! This deal is not tied, in any way, to Lebanon, but we will, MAKE LEBANON GREAT AGAIN!” he said.
He continued his posting spree by claiming that Tehran had “agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again” and grousing about the lack of fawning coverage of the developments from news organizations, including the New York Times, CNN and other outlets while suggesting that they should praise him by stating “JOB WELL DONE, MR. PRESIDENT.”
News of the re-opening of the disputed waterway, which has long been a key transit route through which about a fifth of the world’s oil supply passes during the journey from the Persian Gulf to refineries around the world, was met with an announcement by British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron that their respective countries would lead a “multinational mission” to protect global shipping in the strait “as soon as conditions allow.”
“This will be strictly peaceful and defensive, as a mission to reassure commercial shipping and support mine clearance,” the prime minister said on Friday during a gathering of world leaders in Paris at which he said “all nations with an interest in the free flow of global trade” were invited to join and to participate in what he called a “military planning conference” in London next week.
Starmer added that “over a dozen countries” have already volunteered resources for the effort.
Rather than welcome the international security cooperation, Trump instead lashed out in yet another Truth Social post in which he claimed he’d “received a call from NATO asking if we would need some help.”
“I TOLD THEM TO STAY AWAY, UNLESS THEY JUST WANT TO LOAD UP THEIR SHIPS WITH OIL. They were useless when needed, a Paper Tiger,” said Trump, who has spent weeks complaining that NATO — a strictly defensive alliance centered around Europe and North America — did not join the U.S. and Israel in attacking Iran from the start of the war on February 28.
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