The volatile standoff over one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints shifted dramatically Saturday, as Iran’s military command announced it had reclosed the Strait of Hormuz just hours after initially reopening it, with more than a dozen commercial vessels mid-transit through the strategic waterway. This rapid reversal casts fresh uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent optimistic claims that a final peace deal to end the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran is “very close.”
Tehran first declared the 21-mile strait, which normally carries roughly one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas trade, open for transit on Friday, after a ceasefire agreement was reached to pause Israel’s war with Hezbollah in Lebanon. The announcement triggered immediate relief in global commodity markets, sending oil prices tumbling. But the reprieve was short-lived: President Trump insisted that the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports would remain in place until a comprehensive peace deal is finalized, a move that prompted Tehran to renew its threat to shutter the waterway.
By late Saturday morning, Iranian state television, citing a statement from the country’s central military command, confirmed the strait had returned to its restricted status, with full strict management and control held by Iranian armed forces. The decision was explicitly framed as a direct response to the continued American blockade. At the time of the announcement, maritime tracking data showed multiple commercial vessels rushing through the narrow passage, hugging Iranian territorial waters as instructed by Tehran. Several of the ships identified themselves as Indian or Chinese, a move widely interpreted as a public signal of their neutrality in the conflict.
As of 10:30 GMT Saturday, at least eight oil and gas tankers had successfully completed transit through the strait, but an equal number of vessels that had begun departing the Persian Gulf had already turned back to safer ports.
The current two-week ceasefire in the U.S.-Israeli war, which was launched by the American-Israeli alliance on February 28, is set to expire in just four days. Despite the growing tensions over the strait, Trump has remained outwardly confident that a final agreement can be finalized quickly. He took to social media Friday to declare the day “GREAT AND BRILLIANT,” and repeatedly praised Pakistan, the lead mediator in the talks, for its diplomatic work.
Pakistan’s top military leader, Field Marshal Asim Munir, wrapped up a three-day diplomatic visit to Tehran Saturday focused on advancing peace negotiations, where he held meetings with Iran’s highest-ranking leadership. While Munir conducted talks in Iran, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif traveled to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey to shore up regional support for the peace process. Egypt, another key diplomatic player in the negotiations, also expressed cautious optimism Saturday: Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said Cairo and Islamabad expected to secure a final agreement “in the coming days.”
Pakistan has emerged as the primary mediator throughout the conflict, hosting a marathon round of direct peace talks last weekend that was attended by U.S. Vice President JD Vance. A second round of negotiations is scheduled to take place in the Pakistani capital next week, with envoys from all sides aiming to end the conflict that began with a massive surprise attack by U.S. and Israeli forces. That pre-emptive strike, launched even as diplomatic talks were ongoing, killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and dozens of senior Iranian government and military officials. The war quickly spread across the Middle East: Iran retaliated by targeting U.S. military and commercial interests across the Gulf, while Hezbollah entered the conflict by launching rocket attacks on northern Israel, dragging Lebanon into full-scale hostilities.
In a sign that the broader ceasefire framework remains largely intact, Iran’s Civil Aviation Authority announced Saturday that the country’s airspace has been reopened, allowing international commercial flights to transit through eastern Iranian airspace once again.
Even with ongoing diplomatic progress, two major sticking points remain unresolved in the talks: the future of Iran’s stockpile of near-weapons-grade enriched uranium, and the long-term status of the Strait of Hormuz. Both issues remain up in the air, despite conflicting claims from the two sides.
Speaking to AFP by phone Friday, Trump claimed “we’re very close to having a deal,” and insisted there were “no sticking points at all” left in negotiations with Tehran. Later that same day, during a campaign event in Arizona, the president claimed Iran had already agreed to hand over its roughly 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% purity — a level just short of what is required to build a nuclear weapon. “We’re going to get it by going in with Iran, with lots of excavators,” he told attendees.
But Iran flatly contradicted Trump’s claims just hours before the president’s Arizona remarks. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told state television that the country’s enriched uranium stockpile, which Iran says was buried deep underground by U.S. bombing during the 12-day June 2025 war, will remain in Iran. “Iran’s enriched uranium is not going to be transferred anywhere,” Baqaei said, adding that “Transfer of Iran’s enriched uranium to the U.S. has never been raised in negotiations.”
For ordinary Iranians, the conflict continues to disrupt daily life: internet monitor Netblocks confirmed Saturday that the nationwide internet blackout imposed at the start of the war has now entered its 50th day, leaving most Iranians cut off from the global digital network.
