Published
May 29, 2026 at 11:21 AM EDT
updated
May 29, 2026 at 01:20 PM EDT
Associate Editor
President Donald Trump said ships waiting in the Strait of Hormuz could start heading home Friday, as he announced that the blockade would be lifted.
“Say HELLO to your wives, husbands, parents, and families from me, your favorite President!” Trump told those on board the ships in a post to Truth Social, as he said he was headed to the situation room to make “a final determination” on a deal with Iran.
Trump’s announcement came a day after it was reported that United States and Iranian officials had reached a tentative agreement to extend the fragile ceasefire and start fresh talks on Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
In his Truth Social post, Trump repeated his view that the country must agree to never have a nuclear weapon before announcing the Strait’s reopening. He also said that the enriched material underground in Iran would be addressed as part of the deal.
Trump said the so-called “nuclear dust” will be “unearthed by the United States (which, it is agreed, is the only Country, along with China, with the mechanical capability of doing so!), in close coordination and conjunction with the Islamic Republic of Iran, plus the International Atomic Energy Agency, and DESTROYED.”
The president also said that other items “of far less importance” had been agreed upon by both sides.
The two countries have held sharply different positions on Tehran’s nuclear program, its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium (HEU), and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. While some details of a potential agreement have emerged, many do not appear to address the core concerns that prompted the U.S. and Israel to launch the war in February.
The memorandum, as reported on Friday, would not allow Iran to impose tolls on the Strait and remove all mines, and would be accompanied by a U.S. easing of restrictions on Iranian ports in place for six weeks, according to reports citing unnamed U.S. officials.
While Trump said the Strait of Hormuz would reopen, it was not immediately clear whether both sides had agreed to it. The president has said multiple times over the past few months that a deal was close, while also setting deadlines that have repeatedly been missed, for Iran to agree to his terms.
Dan Shapiro, the former U.S. ambassador to Israel, said on X that Trump had made claims in his Friday Truth Social post about matters not included in the proposed deal.
“In reality, he simply opens 60 days of negotiations on disposing of Iran’s enriched uranium and its enrichment capability. But there is absolutely no guarantee of what those talks will achieve, certainly not a guarantee that the United States will be involved in its disposal,” Shapiro said, in part.
“Opening the Strait is the most important thing, so this deal is worth doing. But Trump is trying to sell it by overpromising what it will deliver, and perhaps underselling what the United States is prepared to provide in sanctions relief.”
Following Trump’s post offering signs that the Strait would reopen, prices of crude oil began to fall Friday afternoon.
Brent was showing at around $90.87 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, was showing at around $87.56, down from their peaks at over $110 per barrel.
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