Trump insists a deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz could come soon, but senior Gulf official tells CNN there is a '50-50 chance' a deal will be reached by the weekend; US Treasury lifts sanctions against 3 airlines linked to the IRGC U.S. President Donald Trump insists that a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is expected very soon, perhaps as early as Wednesday, after reports said he had demanded that the deal be completed Tuesday. But so far, there has been no announcement, and on Wednesday afternoon CNN reported that the declaration may wait until Friday. A senior Gulf official told the American network there is a “50-50” chance the deal will be reached Friday.Shortly after that report, in a move that is still unclear but may have been intended as a goodwill gesture toward Tehran, the U.S. Treasury Department announced the removal of sanctions against two aircraft and three airlines linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.At the center of the contacts is a temporary agreement to reopen Hormuz under a framework that would effectively accept at least some of Iran’s demands for control over traffic in the strait - the oil artery of the global economy - as part of its refusal to give up the strategic pressure lever it gained during the war by blocking it. Talks over how the strait will be managed under the temporary agreement are officially being held only between Iran and its neighbor on the strait, Oman, but in practice the U.S. is also involved.U.S. President Donald Trump insists that a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is expected soon(Photo: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)The official who spoke with CNN said the Iranian delegation in the talks does not include the “voice” of the Revolutionary Guards, the most powerful military force in Iran, which now effectively controls decision-making in the ayatollahs’ regime. According to the official, the Guards will be required to give final approval to any agreement reached.Trump himself gave a somewhat similar timeline Wednesday morning, after reports said he had demanded that the agreement be reached Tuesday. “We’ll know within 48 hours. Things are moving nicely,” he said.Earlier, in an overnight interview with Fox News, he said that “the strait will open soon, or they [Iran] will be hit hard and then it will open.” He claimed that if Iran leaves the talks, “they will be hit very hard.”