Middle East crisis live: Iran warns it will close strait of Hormuz if US blockade continues
Iranian parliamentary speaker also says passage through waterway will depend on Iranian authorisation and accuses Donald Trump of multiple falsehoods
Welcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East.
Iran temporarily reopened the strait of Hormuz on Friday after a truce agreement between Israel and Lebanon, raising hopes for a broader peace, but Tehran warned that it would close the waterway again if the US naval blockade of Iranian ports continued.
World leaders welcomed Iran’s announcement on reopening the waterway, with UN chief António Guterres calling the move “a step in the right direction” and urging “the full restoration of international navigational rights and freedoms in the Strait of Hormuz, respected by everyone.” British prime minister Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron – who on Friday co-chaired a virtual summit of about 50 countries on the issue – said the reopening must become permanent.
Oil prices tumbled after Iran’s Hormuz announcement amid hopes that energy supplies could resume after nearly two months of disruption. Brent crude – the benchmark for oil traded globally – plunged below $90 a barrel, a 10% fall.
Trump said US “prohibited” Israel from bombing Lebanon and that “Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer”. Minutes before Trump’s post on social media, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu uploaded a video address declaring that Israel was not done yet with Hezbollah.
The Lebanese army claimed “a number of violations” by Israel of the ceasefire on Friday morning, as thousands of displaced families began making their way home to southern Lebanon. The fighting since 1 March has killed more than 2,100 people in Lebanon and displaced more than 1 million.
Trump said Iran’s enriched uranium would be brought to the US, also claiming the US and Tehran would work together to recover the uranium but denying reports that the US was considering a $20bn cash for uranium deal. “No money is changing hands,” he told Reuters.
A cruise ship successfully transited the strait of Hormuz on Friday, making it the first passenger vessel to make it through since the war began, according to ship tracking service MarineTraffic.
The Trump administration issued a waiver permitting countries to buy sanctioned Russian oil and petroleum products at sea for about a month, seeking to control soaring global energy prices.
The UN children’s agency said it was “outraged” after two truck drivers it contracted to deliver clean water to families in Gaza were killed by Israeli fire.
The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, has again entered the waters of the Middle East, US defence officials said.
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