Strait of Hormuz will be ‘opened’ on Friday: Trump

Washington
United States President Donald Trump on Monday said that the peace deal with Iran was already signed and the Strait of Hormuz would be completely opened for all sea traffic on June 19.
“I’m very happy to say … the deal’s all signed,” he said while addressing a media talk with French President Emmanuel Macron in France ahead of the G7 summit.
He said that the text of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Iran will be released “sometime after Friday”.
“I think pretty soon. I would say, I mean, I want it to be released, because it’s a very powerful document,” Trump said. “It’s a very powerful document, and I want it to be released. So, probably pretty soon. I would say sometime after Friday.”
A US official similarly said just earlier that Washington and Tehran had signed a MoU to settle a near four-month war, adding that a signing ceremony would take place on Friday and shipping traffic in the Strait ​of Hormuz would gradually ramp up.
The MoU was signed by Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher ​Qalibaf, one US official said.
Speaking at a briefing with ​reporters, the US official added that there will also be a signing ceremony on Friday.
“You will see significant increase in traffic in the ​Strait of Hormuz, actually starting already, and that will ​ramp up slowly over time,” the US official, speaking on the condition ‌of anonymity, said. “We probably won’t return to normal in two weeks, but we will see a significant increase in strait traffic,” the official said.
Trump earlier said that ships carrying oil were beginning to move out of the Strait of Hormuz after the US and Iran declared that they had reached an agreement to end the war.
“Ships are starting to move, many loaded up with Oil, out of the Strait of Hormuz. They are going along the Southern ‘Highway,’ which is totally safe, secure, and pristine,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“There are other areas of travel, also!!!” he added.
Vice President JD Vance said the US held significant leverage in negotiations with Iran and expressed confidence that upcoming talks would lead to a successful agreement.
“I think the best outcome is a good deal for the American people, which we have fundamentally,” Vance said in an interview with CNBC.
Discussing negotiations expected later this week, Vance said: “We expect to have a full spectrum of representatives at the negotiation on Friday. Again, we’ve been talking to these people sometimes indirectly, but sometimes directly, and that’s what’s fundamentally changed under the president’s leadership.”
He said the Trump administration is now engaging directly with Iran, adding: “We have some good relationships there.”
“This is going to be a successful negotiation, because you know we’re not passing messages through various back channels anymore. We’re actually talking to them, and when you talk to them, you figure out what’s real, what’s fake, what are they serious about, what are they not serious about,” he said.
Highlighting Washington’s position ahead of the talks, Vance said: “We fundamentally have all the cards here. We don’t have to give the Iranians anything if they don’t make the commitments that we want long term on the nuclear program, and even if we just stopped here, what would be true? Their military is destroyed, the Straits of Hormuz are open, their nuclear program has been destroyed, and we have incredible economic leverage over them that we didn’t have a year and a half ago.”
Vance further noted that Washington remained open to improving relations with Tehran, saying: “If you guys want to meet us, if you guys want to change your relationship with the United States, we will change our relationship with Iran. That’s the offer. We’re going to have to see whether they meet us there.”
Addressing concerns about Israel’s reaction to a potential agreement, Vance said: “Well, first of all, I think there are elements within Israel that like the deal quite a bit, and I also think there’s been some misreporting about the deal.”
He added that the administration hoped to release the text of the agreement this week and said it would make the region safer and help create “a new Middle East, not just for the next few years, but for the next generation”.