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Strait of Hormuz Reopens as US‑Iran Deal Boosts Shipping and Lifts Sanctions
Technical talks in Switzerland between the United States and Iran produced a memorandum of understanding that temporarily lifts U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil, releases about $12 billion of frozen Iranian assets and creates four working groups on sanctions, nuclear issues, reconstruction and implementation. Iran’s ambassador to the UN said the Strait of Hormuz is “fully open” for commercial traffic and that Tehran alone will decide how to use the unfrozen assets.
Following the deal, vessel traffic through the strait surged. Kpler data showed a record 36 commodity carriers on a single day, about a third of normal peacetime flow, and more than 130 ships transited between Friday and Monday. The United Nations International Maritime Organization announced a large‑scale operation to evacuate roughly 11,000 stranded seafarers, coordinating with Iran, Oman, the United States and regional partners. Qatar‑controlled LNG tankers entered the waterway for the first time since the war began, and India reported only modest declines in LNG imports thanks to diversified sourcing.
U.S. officials, including President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, warned against any tolls on the strait and highlighted the security implications of keeping the channel open. The reopening is expected to ease global oil and fertilizer supply bottlenecks, with analysts noting a sharp fall in Brent and WTI prices as the flow of Iranian crude resumes.