President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the Strait of Hormuz would reopen “very soon,” warning Iran it would face a heavy military response if negotiations to end the blockade collapse.
“The Strait is going to be open very soon — or they’re gonna hit very hard, and then the Strait is going to be open,” Trump told Fox News in an interview Tuesday night, speaking from Southern California, where he was attending a Republican National Committee fundraiser. He said U.S. and Iranian negotiators held “very good discussions” throughout the day and that a deal to reopen the waterway could come “tomorrow or the next day.”
Trump reiterated his account that Iranian officials had asked for talks after learning of plans for what he described as the largest U.S. strike since World War Two. “We were going to a tremendous attack … and they called me and said, very politely, ‘Please, can we talk?'” he said, adding, “The only thing that matters is action, and they want to make a deal. We’ll see what happens. If they don’t make a deal, it’s going to be too bad.”
Iran has not publicly confirmed that direct talks are taking place, a discrepancy Trump has previously called “unbelievably duplicitous.” The waterway, through which about 20% of global oil supplies passed before the war, has been effectively closed to normal traffic since fighting resumed in early July, following the collapse of an earlier ceasefire reached in mid-June. Data firm Kpler said Sunday traffic through Hormuz remained constrained, with most transits routed through a corridor Iran now requires ships to coordinate through, in some cases paying a toll.
Oil prices fell and Asian stocks rose Wednesday on hopes the blockade could soon ease, extending a rally after Wall Street closed at record highs.
