Closing summary
We’re wrapping up this live coverage of Middle East news for the moment but you can see our last full report here, and below is a recap of the latest developments. Thanks for joining us.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday announced the strait of Hormuz was “completely open” for all commercial vessels for the remaining period of the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel. The 10-day truce took effect on Thursday.
Donald Trump hailed the reopening as a “brilliant day for the world” but said the US naval blockade of Iranian ports would remain in place. He also said Iran had agreed to never close the strait again, but that has not been verified.
Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said later that the Hormuz strait “will not remain open” if the US blockade continued and that Trump had made multiple false claims on Friday.
World leaders welcomed Iran’s announcement on the reopening, 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.”
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.
Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron said the reopening must become permanent. The British prime minister and the French president on Friday co-chaired a virtual summit of about 50 countries on the issue.
Amid the Israel-Lebanon truce, Trump said the US “prohibited” Israel from bombing Lebanon. 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 alleged “a number of violations” of the ceasefire by Israel on Friday morning, as thousands of displaced families began making their way home to southern Lebanon.
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. But there remained uncertainty over how quickly shipping might return to normal, with some vessels observed making unsuccessful attempts cross the strait on Friday before turning back.
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 the US was considering a $20bn cash for uranium deal. “No money is changing hands,” he told Reuters.
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 UK will make “a wide-ranging military contribution” to an international mission to protect shipping in the strait of Hormuz, the UK ambassador to the US, Christian Turner, said in Washington
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.
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Donald Trump also said there had been some positive news regarding Iran but declined to elaborate.
“We had some pretty good news 20 minutes ago, but it seems to be going very well in the Middle East with Iran,” he was quoted as telling reporters aboard Air Force One.
When asked what the good news was, the US president replied:
You’ll hear about. I just think it’s something that should happen. It’s something that only makes sense to happen. And I think it will. We’ll see what happens, but I think it will.”
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