SadaNews – Oil prices fell by more than 11% after Iran announced the complete opening of the Strait of Hormuz to commercial ships throughout the ceasefire period reached with Washington.

The London Stock Exchange and the “Investing.com” website reported that the price of Brent crude fell to around $88 per barrel in trading – on Friday – following the announcement of the Iranian decision.

Reuters also reported that Brent crude futures fell by 11.2% to $88.27 per barrel by 13:11 GMT.

Meanwhile, American West Texas Intermediate futures dropped 12% to $83.29 per barrel.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi announced – on Friday – that the Strait of Hormuz is now fully open to all commercial ships for the remaining duration of the ceasefire, in line with the ceasefire in Lebanon.

Araqchi added in a post on X that the passage of ships through the strait will be via the coordinated route already announced by the Iranian Ports and Maritime Organization.

Following that, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that the Strait of Hormuz is now completely open and ready for operations and passage, but he said that the naval blockade imposed on Iran will remain “fully in place” until an agreement is reached with Tehran.

Giovanni Stonefo analyst at UBS said: “The statements from the Iranian foreign minister indicate a de-escalation as long as the ceasefire is ongoing, and now we also need to see if the number of tankers crossing the strait will increase significantly.”

The prices had already declined earlier in the session, amid investors’ hopes that the Middle East war is nearing its end with the possibility of talks between the United States and Iran early next week, and a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel.

Trump previously stated that Tehran offered not to possess nuclear weapons for more than 20 years, during his discussion of a key point of contention in talks aimed at ending the war with Iran.

Trump told reporters outside the White House yesterday Thursday, “We’ll see what happens. But I think we are very close to reaching an agreement with Iran.”