Sourced online by Tracy Cabrera
MANILA — Following the announcement of an agreement to end the conflict between the United States and Iran, US president Donald Trump announced that ships will again be moving through the Strait of Hormuz as the vital oil route would be “completely open” by Friday., June 19.
The strait’s reopening is seen as a major step toward ending months of deadly conflict and economic turmoil triggered by US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.
“Ships are starting to move, many loaded up with Oil, out of the Strait of Hormuz. I don’t think we will need much help keeping the waterway open,” Trump noted.
On Monday evening, the Tehran Times reported that three oil tankers and two cargo ships carrying goods had passed through the area that had been subject to a US naval blockade.
Iran had earlier blockaded Hormuz since the start of the war, sending oil prices soaring and raising fears of a prolonged inflation shock. The United States then blocked shipping to and from Iranian ports.
Though the US, Iran and mediator Pakistan said that the peace agreement was to be signed on Friday in Switzerland, a senior US administration official, disclosed that Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf had already signed the text electronically.
“The president wanted to sign it personally because he wanted to show his . . . dedication to bring (the war) through to a successful resolution,” the official asserted.
Asked by G7 leaders in a conference in France when the text would be released, Trump replied: “It’s a very powerful document, and I want it to be released. So probably pretty soon.”
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi added that the deal brought an “immediate end” to the war, with talks on a “final agreement” to be held within two months.
His country’s military hailed the accord as a victory, claiming it had “humiliated” the US and Israel, while President Masoud Pezeshkian called it “a great achievement” for the region.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi struck a more cautious note: “We have a history of broken commitments. We have a history of agreements being torn up. All of this is present in our minds.”
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei warned that Washington must ensure that Israel stops fighting in Lebanon under the agreement: “The United States must honor its commitments. It must ensure that the Zionist regime also respects its own regarding Lebanon,” Baqaei stressed.
ia/xf
