President Trump accused Tehran on Thursday of falling short of a days-old ceasefire agreement between the United States, Iran and Israel. The reopening of the strait was the main U.S. condition to suspend the 40-day bombing of Iran and followed Trump's threats of wide-scale destruction.
"Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz," Trump wrote in Truth Social. "That is not the agreement we have!"
The ceasefire has so far had minimal impact on the movement of hundreds of vessels that have been stuck in the region since the start of the war in late February.
Despite the tri-lateral agreement, Iranian officials closed the strait on Wednesday, saying a massive Israeli air assault on Beirut violated the terms of the deal. The strikes killed more than 300 people.
As of Friday morning, only 7 percent of the normal average traffic had been restored, according to Hormuzstraitmonitor.com, a site that aggregates maritime data.
Casting further doubt on the endurance of the truce were continued Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Friday and attacks by Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
The Gulf also saw continued strikes, with drone attacks against Kuwait's "vital facilities" on Thursday night. Kuwait's foreign ministry condemned "the heinous attacks" launched by Iran and its proxies, adding that they undermined the ceasefire agreement. Iran's Revolutionary Guard denied it was behind the attacks.
High-level talks between the U.S. and Iran are slated to start on Saturday in Islamabad, with the mediation of Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Pakistan's government acted as an intermediary between Washington and Tehran to secure the two-week ceasefire.
The U.S. delegation will be led by Vice President Vance. Iran has yet to announce who will be its lead negotiator.
Israel and Lebanon are set to begin direct talks next week, according to the U.S. Department of State. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday his country would continue to fight Hezbollah despite the U.S.-Iran ceasefire.
Here's more news on Day 42 of the Iran war:
Strait of Hormuz | Israel-Hezbollah strikes | Ukraine Shahed drones
Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz draws broad condemnation
Iran's blockade of the vital waterway has made it difficult to track the exact number of ships that have traversed since the start of the war, but it's clear that passage has slowed to a trickle. Hormuzstraitmonitor.com, a site that aggregates maritime data, reported that seven vessels have sailed through in the last 24 hours. Another five appeared to be in transit as of Friday 6 a.m. Eastern Time.
Lloyds List, which tracks maritime intelligence data, reported on Thursday that more than 600 vessels are stuck in the Middle East Gulf region. The near-total stoppage has set back operations to such a degree that "even if traffic returned to pre-conflict levels tomorrow, it would still take more than 10 days to move all vessels out of the gulf," the London-based shipping news journal estimated.
Since the war began, Iran has been issuing warnings to idling ships telling them they risk attack if they attempt to travel through the strait without permission and, in some cases, hefty payment of $1 million or more. The threats have left operators confused and frozen, unwilling to attempt passage, due to safety fears and uncertainty about Iran's new fee system. Questions about who to pay, in what currency, and the legitimacy of a new toll process remain unclear.
Before the war broke out, Iran had no control over the strait. An average of 120 to 150 ships sailed through unimpeded every day, and it was a toll-free international waterway.
Iran's chokehold in the Strait of Hormuz was also condemned by Gulf and European countries. Sultan Ahmed Al Jabar, the United Arab Emirates minister of industry and advanced technology, criticized Iran's tight grip on the channel, in a LinkedIn post on Thursday. "This moment requires clarity. So let's be clear: the Strait of Hormuz is not open. Access is being restricted, conditioned and controlled," he said.
"Iran has made clear – through both its statements and actions– that passage is subject to permission, conditions and political leverage… That is coercion," Jabar added.
He noted that the strait, which lies between Iran, Oman and the UAE, is a natural passageway — meaning it was not built or financed by any state — that is governed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Under that framework, transit is guaranteed "as a matter of right; not a privilege to be granted, withheld or weaponized."
Trump, however, appeared to support the idea of a new toll system early Thursday morning, hours before walking back his stance. He told ABC News that he was "thinking of doing it as a joint venture" with Iran and called it "a beautiful thing."
He added: "It's a way of securing it — also securing it from lots of other people."
Later in the day, the president lashed out at Iran over the idea that Iran had already begun collecting fees. "There are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Hormuz Strait — They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now!" Trump wrote in a social media post.
It's unclear if the president now opposes the toll system altogether or if he's unhappy that the U.S. seems to have been carved out of a potential revenue stream. The post came hours after European and Gulf-region allies explicitly stated they are against any tolls or restrictions on the shipping route.
"There is no international agreement where tolls can be introduced for transiting international straits. Any such toll will set a dangerous precedent," a spokesperson for the U.N.'s International Maritime Organization told Reuters on Thursday.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also weighed in, saying, "Full restoration of freedom of movement in the Strait of Hormuz is needed, and it must not be subject to any restrictions."
Israel and Lebanon to meet in Washington as Israel and Hezbollah trade fire
Multiple Israeli airstrikes were reported by Lebanese local media early Friday in and around Tyre, a big city on the Mediterranean coast that's south of Litani River, the zone where Israel has said it wants to take Lebanese territory. Lebanese state media also said there have been airstrikes & artillery attacks in border villages, where Israeli troops are holding positions. The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it fired RPGs at various Israeli positions inside Lebanon.
The strikes followed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's vow on Thursday to continue attacks against Hezbollah, but also to begin direct talks with Lebanon's government.
"Following repeated requests from the Lebanese government to open peace negotiations with us, last night I instructed the Cabinet to begin direct negotiations with Lebanon to achieve two goals: First, the disarming of Hezbollah. Second, a historic, sustainable peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon," Netanyahu said in a video address Thursday.
The U.S. State Department confirmed it will host a meeting next week to discuss ongoing ceasefire negotiations with Israel and Lebanon.
There has been disagreement among the countries involved in the ceasefire as to whether attacks on Lebanon are a part of the agreement. Hezbollah and its backer Iran, as well as mediating country Pakistan, say the agreement does include Lebanon. But Israel and the U.S. have disputed that.
President Trump said he asked Netanyahu in a phone call Wednesday to reduce his country's attacks on Lebanon. "I spoke with Bibi and he's going to low-key it. I just think we have to be sort of a little more low-key," Trump told NBC.
Vice President Vance, who will lead a delegation to Pakistan for Saturday peace talks with Iran, said earlier that the Israelis were looking "to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon, because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful." He added: "That's not because that is part of the ceasefire. I think that's the Israelis trying to set us up for success."
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has pledged to restrict weapons to "legitimate forces only." Lebanese President Joseph Aoun says he wants a ceasefire first, followed by direct negotiations.
Israel and Lebanon have fought several wars. They do not have diplomatic relations and treat each other as enemy states. Direct negotiations between the two countries would be historic.
Lebanon, meanwhile, is still reeling from the Israeli strike on Wednesday. Emergency teams continued to pull victims from rubble on Friday, as families shared pictures of missing loved ones on social media and authorities tried to match lists of missing people with bodies. A Lebanese NGO published instructions for what people should do if they find a parentless child. Hospitals called for blood donations as they rushed to treat over 1,000 people injured in the strikes.
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy says its forces helped shoot down Iranian drones
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed Friday that Ukrainian teams sent to several Gulf countries have helped take down Iranian attack drones.
Ukraine has sent more than 200 anti-drone experts to the Middle East to help defend countries from Iranian strikes in retaliation for the U.S.-Israel war on Iran.
Zelenskyy said he had seen video footage from the Gulf of Ukrainian weapons taking down Iranian Shahed drones, which have struck several sites, including U.S. bases in the Middle East over the last month.
He did not say in which Gulf countries the Ukrainian teams shot down these drones, citing security reasons.
In the last couple of weeks, Zelenskyy has visited the region and signed defense deals with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Russia has been using Shahed drones to strike Ukrainian cities nearly every night since its invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. Ukraine has developed expertise to destroy them through electronic jamming as well as using small, cheap interceptor drones to blow up the Shahed drones.
Lauren Frayer in Beirut, Lebanon, Aya Batrawy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Joanna Kakissis in Kyiv, Ukraine, Jackie Northam in Maine, Danielle Kurtzleben, Michele Kelemen and Tina Kraja in Washington, and Vanessa Romo in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
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