US President Donald Trump said he was lifting a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, even as Iran denied his claim that negotiations were taking place on the fate of its nuclear programme, a resolution to which Trump conditioned lifting the naval siege.
Trump’s murky statement on Friday is one of several he has made in recent days suggesting a deal to end the war is at hand, only for the stalemate in the Strait of Hormuz to continue as a fragile ceasefire between the two sides prevents a wider flare-up in fighting.
Trump conditioned the lifting of the US’s blockade on Iran agreeing not to charge fees in the Strait of Hormuz and allowing the US access to damaged nuclear facilities in order to destroy Iran’s highly enriched uranium. The US bombed three Iranian facilities in June 2025.
“The enriched material, sometimes referred to as “Nuclear Dust,” which is buried deep underground with virtually collapsed mountains…will be unearthed by the United States…in close coordination and conjunction with the Islamic Republic of Iran, plus the International Atomic Energy Agency, and DESTROYED,” Trump wrote on his Truthsocial platform on Friday.
As a result, Trump said that “Ships caught in the Strait due to our amazing and unprecedented Naval Blockade, which will now be lifted, may start the process of “heading home!”
