Trump says Iran blocking oil tankers from passing through Hormuz Strait
by Paul Godfrey · UPIApril 10 (UPI) -- U.S. President Donald Trump accused Iran of breaching the cease-fire earlier this week, saying it was reneging on its promise to allow oil tankers to transit the Strait of Hormuz and suggesting Tehran might be doing it deliberately.
Trump made the comments on his Truth Social platform late Thursday, 24 hours before U.S.-Iran negotiations were due to get underway in Pakistan.
"Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz. That is not the agreement we have!" he wrote.
Earlier in the evening, he cautioned Tehran against forcing ships to pay tolls to get through the vital shipping lane connecting the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
Iran "better not be charging fees to tankers," he wrote in a post.
Announcing the cease-fire on Tuesday, Trump said the deal was for the "complete, immediate, and safe opening" of the strait.
Statements out of Iran on Wednesday suggested that was unlikely anytime soon with the Iranian deputy foreign minister claiming the strait was open but vessels would have to coordinate with the Iranian military for safe passage due to "technical restrictions" due to the "wartime conditions" existing in the strait, including mines.
Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei doubled down, saying in a post on X that recompense must be made for the damage and deaths and injuries inflicted on Iran and its people.
"We will certainly demand full reparations for all damages caused, as well as blood money for the martyrs and compensation for the war's wounded. We will definitely take the management of the Strait of Hormuz to a new phase.
"We have not sought, nor do we seek, war; yet we will in no way relinquish our legitimate rights, and in this regard, we consider the entire Resistance Front as a unified entity," Khamenei added, a reference to disagreement over whether Lebanon was included in the cease-fire.
Earlier, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company CEO Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber said the strait remained closed and urged Iran to "unconditionally" open it with "no strings attached."
"This moment requires clarity. So let's be clear: The Strait of Hormuz is not open. Access is being restricted, conditioned and controlled."
The BBC said it had verified that just 11 ships, only three of which were tankers, had passed through the strait since the cease-fire, compared with around 276 in the same time frame prior to the war.
More could have made the journey with their Automatic Identification System switched off to avoid evade detection.
The shipping journal, Lloyd's List, said the situation was "very dangerous" for ship owners.
Almost 800 ships remain marooned in the Persian Gulf, most of them loaded with oil or other cargo, with the
This week in Washington
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks during a press briefing at the Pentagon on Wednesday. Yesterday, the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire, with the U.S. suspending bombing in Iran for two weeks if the country reopens the Straight of Hormuz. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
Strait of Hormuz, the only way out, effectively blockaded by Iran.
"We know Iran is essentially still in control of the strait, and the assumption is that ship owners will still need to seek permission from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and how that's going to work is still not clear," said Lloyd's List editor-in-chief Richard Meade.
Global oil prices were slightly lower on Friday, with the benchmark Brent crude down just over $2 a barrel in late morning trade in London where the contract for June delivery was changing hands at $96.22.