Voldemort has already started gloating.
- snitzoid
- Apr 17
- 5 min read
I told you the Dark Lord was likely to pull "it" off and the media had it all wrong. Go ahead. I'm ready. Who's your daddy?
Strait of Hormuz ‘completely open’ as Trump celebrates tumbling oil prices, rips into NATO as ‘Paper Tiger’
By Caitlin Doornbos, NY Post
Published April 17, 2026
Iran’s foreign minister announced Friday that the Strait of Hormuz is now “completely open” for all commercial ships — as President Trump said the US would take all of Tehran’s leftover nuclear fuel.
“In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of the ceasefire,” Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said in a post to X.
He did not specify whether that was the 10-day cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon went into place on Friday or the one between the US and Iran that is ending on Tuesday.
However, the foreign minister added that the critical passage is only open “on the coordinated route,” referring to a pathway approved earlier this month by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in connection with its plan to charge a toll to transit through the strait.
All commercial ships planning to sail through must also receive permission from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, a senior Iranian official told Reuters.
The official added that military vessels were still prohibited from crossing the strait.
Trump later took to Truth Social to tout the news himself, but said that the reopening of the critical chokepoint — which carries roughly 20% of the world’s oil — would instead be permanent.
“Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again,” he wrote. “It will no longer be used as a weapon against the World!”
The commander-in-chief, however, insisted that the US naval blockade on Iranian ships and ports would remain until Tehran signed a deal with Washington to end the war.
Maintaining the blockade allows the US to hold its leverage against Iran — to force the theocratic regime to come to the table for peace talks and agree to a fair deal, while allowing commercial ships to access the waterway.
Trump also said that Iran and the US were working together to remove all sea mines in the strait. Iran had littered the passage with explosives during the war.
Once those are cleared, there would not be a reason for ships to be required to sail only along Iranian-approved routes.
“Iran, with the help of the U.S.A., has removed, or is removing, all sea mines! Thank you! President DJT,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Crude oil prices plummeted after the announcement, with Brent crude dropping 11% to $88 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate declining 10% to $81.
Meanwhile, it was unclear whether the reopening meant Iran would stop charging commercial vessels tolls in order to pass through the strait safely.
“It seems to me that he [the foreign minister] is saying that any country now can get through, but they still have to pay the toll,” Trita Parsi, executive VP of the Quincy Institute in Washington, DC, told CNN.
fuel in 6 weeks — throwing flights into chaos in time for summer
After the announcement, Trump railed against NATO, blasting the alliance as a “Paper Tiger.”
The US will maintain its blockade of Iranian ports — which does not impede other traffic — to keep the pressure on for Tehran to come to the table for a peace deal, he added.
US Central Command
“Now that the Hormuz Strait situation is over, I received a call from NATO asking if we would need some help. I TOLD THEM TO STAY AWAY, UNLESS THEY JUST WANT TO LOAD UP THEIR SHIPS WITH OIL. They were useless when needed, a Paper Tiger!” President DJT” he wrote on Truth Social.
Trump also announced in a separate Truth Social post that Iran would turn over all remaining enriched uranium — a key point he had been seeking since well before the war began.
“The U.S.A. will get all Nuclear “Dust,” created by our great B2 Bombers – No money will exchange hands in any way, shape, or form,” he said.
He later confirmed it to Reuters, saying the US would recover uranium from Iran at a “leisurely pace.”
“We’re going to get it together. We’re going to go in with Iran, at a nice leisurely pace, and go down and start excavating with big machinery… We’ll bring it back to the United States,” he said.
The president, in another announcement on Truth Social, stressed that the achievement is not dependent on Israel’s war with Lebanon — as Iran’s foreign minister had suggested — while also putting the Jewish state on notice.
“This deal is in no way subject to Lebanon, either, but the USA will, separately, work with Lebanon, and deal with the Hezboolah [sic] situation in an appropriate manner. Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer. They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the U.S.A. Enough is enough!!! Thank you! President DJT,” he wrote.
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Iran had initially claimed that Lebanon was included in the US-Iran cease-fire, but Washington held firm that Israel’s battle with the Iranian proxy group was not included.
Meanwhile, a group of around 20 ships, including container ships, bulk carriers and tankers, was seen sailing in the Gulf towards the exit via the Strait of Hormuz on Friday evening, ship-tracking data showed.
Data from shipping tracker MarineTraffic showed that the cruise ship Celestyal Discovery was the first passenger vessel to transit the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the conflict.
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The US-Iran cease-fire — which is set to expire Tuesday — has set the stage for peace talks between the two countries. There has been no agreement to extend the US-Iran cease-fire.
Mediator Pakistan is working to arrange a second round of talks, but the parties have yet to formally commit.
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A senior White House official told the Wall Street Journal that negotiations are likely to take place in Islamabad on Monday.
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