Iran on Friday announced that the crucial Strait of Hormuz will remain open to commercial ships for the remainder of the ceasefire, easing pressure on global energy markets and signalling a tentative de-escalation in the West Asia crisis. The US, however, said its blockade targeting Iran would remain in place until the ongoing negotiations were fully concluded.Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said the passage for all commercial vessels had been declared “completely open” for the duration of the ceasefire, with shipping to follow coordinated routes designated by Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organisation.The announcement effectively ends weeks of disruption in one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints, through which nearly a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies transit. The Strait had been shut since late February following US and Israeli strikes on Iran, choking supply lines, spiking crude prices and rattling global trade.Within hours of Tehran’s declaration, Brent crude prices plunged to around $88 per barrel from above $98 earlier in the day, extending a sharp retreat from peaks exceeding $119 in March.Global equity markets responded with equal vigour: US indices surged, with the S&P 500 rising 0.8 per cent and both the Nasdaq and Dow Jones gaining over 1 per cent, while major European indices posted gains of up to 2 per cent. Seizing the moment, Trump issued a series of triumphant statements, asserting that Iran had agreed to never again weaponise the strait. “A great and brilliant day for the world,” he declared, while crediting regional partners, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, for their role.The US President further claimed that Iran, “with the help of the US”, had begun removing sea mines and insisted the situation was now “completely open and ready for business”, even as he maintained that a US naval blockade targeting Iran would remain in place until the ongoing negotiations were fully concluded. “This process should go very quickly in that most of the points are already negotiated,” he said. In a notable divergence, Trump dismissed any direct linkage between the Hormuz breakthrough and the Lebanon ceasefire, even as Tehran explicitly tied the reopening to the truce. He said Washington would separately address the situation involving Hezbollah and ensure that Israel halted further strikes in Lebanon.Iranian diplomatic voices, meanwhile, pointed to a broader regional effort involving Pakistan to create space for diplomacy, framing the reopening as part of a wider push towards stability, economic recovery and collective security.Caution, however, came from the International Maritime Organisation, whose Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said the body was verifying whether the reopening fully complied with established norms on freedom of navigation and safe passage.Meanwhile, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran said crossing the strait now required its permission. Separately, Reuters news agency said all commercial vessels, including US-flagged ships, were permitted to pass through the strait, while naval vessels would not be granted transit.