{"id":60843,"date":"2026-04-10T12:02:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T12:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/60843\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T12:02:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T12:02:20","slug":"trump-demanded-a-complete-reopening-of-the-strait-of-hormuz-heres-where-things-actually-stand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/60843\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump demanded a ‘complete’ reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Here’s where things actually stand."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In President Trump’s Tuesday night announcement of a ceasefire between the US and Iran, he demanded the “complete, immediate, and safe opening<\/a>” of the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

Yet as US and Iranian negotiators prepare for talks to begin Saturday amid a two-week ceasefire agreement between the countries, traffic has come to a near standstill with seemingly little to no progress made on transits through the world’s most critical chokepoint for global energy flows.<\/p>\n

Despite promises from the Iranian regime <\/a>shortly after the ceasefire declaration of safe passage for vessels looking to transit the strait, Tehran has kept a chokehold on traffic, threatening violence against ships that attempt non-approved crossings, and reportedly seeking to impose limits on the number of crossings each day.<\/p>\n

The effect has been an ever-steeper drop-off in movement through the strait.<\/p>\n

“Yes, technically [the strait is] reopened,” Jorge Le\u00f3n, head of geopolitical analysis at Rystad Energy, told Yahoo Finance. “But we are seeing there are some operational constraints that will need to be fixed in the coming days before the end of the two week period.”<\/p>\n

Read more: What an extended war with Iran could mean for gas prices<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The The Indian-flagged carrier Jag Vasant, carrying liquefied petroleum gas, is seen at the Mumbai Port in Mumbai, India, after arriving from the Strait of Hormuz on April 1, 2026. (AP Photo\/Rafiq Maqbool) \u00b7 ASSOCIATED PRESS <\/p>\n

Since April 8, the day after President Trump’s ceasefire announcement, only eight vessels had made the crossing as of 12:45 p.m. ET Thursday, according to data from the shipping tracker Kpler. Of those eight vessels, only one, an Iranian-flagged tanker, had carried oil products out of the Persian Gulf, with the rest either empty or carrying other goods.<\/p>\n

Before the war, more than 100 vessels transited the waterway each day. Once fighting began, that figure plummeted to an average of roughly 10 vessels per day in the five days prior to President Trump’s Tuesday ceasefire announcement, according to Kpler.<\/p>\n

Now, even as the ceasefire agreement between the White House and Iran has hinged on a reopening of the strait, the Iranian regime has tightened its control.<\/p>\n

According to comments from senior Iranian officials reported by Russian state media, Iran will allow only 15 vessels per day<\/a> to cross during the ceasefire. In recordings posted to X<\/a> and verified by the Wall Street Journal<\/a>, the Iranian Navy could be heard telling ships on Wednesday, “If any vessel tries to transit without permission, [they] will be destroyed.”<\/p>\n

Read more: How oil price shocks ripple through your wallet, from gas to groceries<\/a><\/p>\n

For traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to resume legitimately, the market would need to see a clear, agreed-upon framework from the US and Iran, clarity on potential tolling systems, and a handful of first-move crossings by less risk-averse firms, Le\u00f3n said.<\/p>\n

In an attempt to increase their odds of safe passage, some ship captains have begun swapping out their traditional port destination broadcasts with phrases such as “CHINESE OWNER&CREW” or “CHINESE FLAG&ALL CN,” Arsenio Longo, founder of maritime intelligence firm Huax, told Yahoo Finance.<\/p>\n

The designations mark another sign of the hesitancy among shipowners and ship captains in the region, Longo said.<\/p>\n

“A two-week reopening may allow some selective transits, but from what we see in the data, it has not yet triggered any broad return of shipping through Hormuz,” Longo told Yahoo Finance. “The Strait does not appear fully shut, but traffic looks very thin rather than anything close to normal.”<\/p>\n

Read more: How to protect your money during turmoil, stock market volatility<\/a><\/p>\n

For Iran, long-term control of the strait has become a key goal as the Islamic Republic seeks to position itself as the Middle East’s new regional hegemon \u2014 and with it, the ability to exact tolls that could provide a new source of revenue to the regime.<\/p>\n

As it looks to take control, the regime is set to begin charging tolls of $1 per barrel of oil on board each ship seeking to make the crossing, with the fees to be paid in cryptocurrency<\/a>, the FT reported on Wednesday. The regime will require companies to email authorities descriptions of the cargo they’re moving before their crossing, at which time Iran will dictate the toll for safe passage.<\/p>\n

The developments, or lack thereof, in the Strait of Hormuz have helped to keep oil prices elevated far above their fair value, even after a collapse of 16% in futures on both international benchmark Brent (BZ=F<\/a>) and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude (CL=F<\/a>).<\/p>\n

As of 2:15 p.m. ET on Thursday, Brent was trading just below $95 per barrel, while WTI traded above $96. In a client note published Thursday morning, Goldman Sachs commodities strategists led by Daan Struyven and Samantha Dart said that, under an adverse scenario where the ceasefire doesn’t hold and a fuller reopening of the Strait of Hormuz remains delayed, Brent could average $100 per barrel in the fourth quarter, with the potential for even higher pricing if production losses compound on top.<\/p>\n

“Prices went down from $110 to $95. That is a significant decline,” Le\u00f3n said. “But still, you focus on the absolute level, prices are still at $95 per barrel … The uncertainty is massive.”<\/p>\n

\"The The risks to oil prices “remain skewed to the upside,” Goldman Sachs commodities strategists wrote in a client note on Thursday. \u00b7 Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research <\/p>\n

Jake Conley is a breaking news reporter covering US equities for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on X at @byjakeconley or email him at jake.co<\/a>nley@yahooinc.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In President Trump’s Tuesday night announcement of a ceasefire between the US and Iran, he demanded the “complete,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[2626,10369,102,34,23226,722,3746,101,11170],"class_list":{"0":"post-60843","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-strait-of-hormuz","8":"tag-arsenio-longo","9":"tag-ceasefire-agreement","10":"tag-hormuz","11":"tag-iran","12":"tag-jorge-leon","13":"tag-president-trump","14":"tag-safe-passage","15":"tag-strait-of-hormuz","16":"tag-the-strait"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116380312824801321","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}