It’s an open and shut case.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed it was shutting down the Strait of Hormuz Saturday, even as US Central Command touted an increase in commercial traffic along the critical waterway.
About 55 merchant ships traveled safely through the corridor, moving large amounts of cargo and more than 17 million barrels of oil as safe passage remained intact on Saturday, according to CENTCOM.
“U.S. forces remain present and vigilant to ensure all aspects of the agreement with Iran are adhered to, obeyed, and in full force and effect,” the military command center added, referencing the new Memorandum of Understanding between Washington and Tehran.
CENTCOM spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said, “The strait is open and the U.S. blockade against Iran has ceased.”
That assessment came hours after the IRGC announced it was closing the strait, putting the delicate agreement — a 14-point MOU that centered on the immediate reopening of the passageway — in peril.
Amid the conflicting reports, top US and Iranian officials were headed to Geneva, Switzerland, for a new round of technical talks expected to get underway on Sunday.
The IRGC warned the strait’s closure was a result of renewed fighting in Lebanon despite a Friday US brokered cease-fire between Israel and the terror group Hezbollah.
“It is hereby announced that the Strait of Hormuz will be closed to vessel traffic; It is noted that this first step is a response to the enemy’s breach of promise, and if the aggression continues, further steps will be planned and taken to force the enemy to comply with its obligations,” the IRGC’s military headquarters said in a statement on state TV.
Israel said it struck Lebanon Saturday in response to dozens of projectiles fired by Hezbollah. One strike on a three-story building in the Tyre district killed a father, mother and two children, according to a town official.
The Israeli military said four Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed overnight into Friday in an attack by the terror group in southern Lebanon, and five IDF soldiers were wounded hours later.
Israeli airstrikes against what it said were Hezbollah targets in Lebanon killed at least 16 people Saturday, just hours after the new truce went into effect, according to Lebanese Civil Defense
The fighting in Lebanon poses a threat to talks with Tehran, which are charged with resolving difficult issues around Iran’s nuclear program, the Strait of Hormuz, frozen assets and reconstruction of Iran within a 60-day cease-fire window.
The agreement also calls for an end to hostilities, “including in Lebanon,” although neither Israel nor Hezbollah are parties to the deal.
“My understanding is that it is the Iranian way to make America nervous, and they will do [close the strait] in the future till it will be understood that America might retaliate severely,” former Israeli National Security Adviser Major Gen. Yaakov Amidror, a fellow at the The Jewish Institute for National Security of America, told The Post.
There were 25 commercial ships that made it through the strait Thursday, a record since April but well below a pre-war average of 120, according to AXS Marine data.
Traffic was also reportedly flowing early Friday, prior to the skirmishes breaking out in Lebanon. The IRGC threatened mariners late Friday not to enter the strait — and has vowed to start collecting tolls on vessels – urging them not to enter the strait over the US’s violation of Wednesday’s MOU.
Trump posted that there would be “NO TOLLS” in the strait unless imposed by the US “should the deal not be completed.”
That deal stipulates that Iran would open the strait — which has been closed since the
war broke out on Feb. 28 — in exchange for the US lifting its blockade on Iranian ports.
Vice President JD Vance told Fox & Friends Saturday morning that there was no evidence the strait was closed.
“We actually got 16 million barrels of oil out of the Strait of Hormuz yesterday, that is a record,” he said. “So you’re seeing those ships move.”
Vance also confirmed that US envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner were “on the ground” in Switzerland for technical talks as part of the next steps with the Iranian regime.
They were expected to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammd Bagher Ghalibar, a former IGRC general.
Vance, who was expected to join them after flying to Geneva on Saturday, said talks with Tehran “are always a little bit in flux” but added that “the United States has all the cards.”
Pakistani’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi remains in Switzerland with plans to liaise with Iranian officials. Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Abdul Rahman al-Thani of Qatar, a country that has served in a mediating role and holds frozen Iranian assets, is also there.
Switzerland’s foreign ministry said the luxurious Burgenstock resort above Lake Luzerne continues to be a “discreet and reliable setting” for talks.
With talks set to kick off Sunday, President Trump ripped into his predecessors, Barack “Obuma” and “Sleepy Joe Biden,” over their handling of Iran, while defending his own pact with the Islamic Republic.
“Iran got away with ”murder” for 47 years, until I came along,” he posted to Truth Social. “Then it all changed.”
