U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the United States will help with the buildup of shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump on Tuesday agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran less than two hours before his deadline for Tehran to reopen the strait or face attacks on its civilian infrastructure.
Trump said the last-minute deal was subject to Iran’s agreement to pause its blockade of oil and gas supplies through the strait, which typically handles about one-fifth of global oil shipments.
“We’ll be loading up with supplies of all kinds, and just ‘hangin’ around’ in order to make sure that everything goes well,” Trump said.
“There will be lots of positive action! Big money will be made. Iran can start the reconstruction process,” he also said. Trump told Agence France-Presse the United States had won a “total and complete victory” after agreeing to a two-week ceasefire deal with Iran.
A temporary halt in fighting and the reopening of Hormuz would allow Middle Eastern exporters to ship significant volumes of oil that have been trapped inside the Gulf since hostilities began.
Around 130 million barrels of crude oil and 46 million barrels of refined fuels are currently floating on roughly 200 tankers in the region, according to data from analytics firm Kpler.
(Reporting by Gnaneshwar Rajan in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Christopher Cushing)