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Iran suspended the transit of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, just hours after the first ships began to cross the strategic waterway, in direct response to the largest Israeli airstrike recorded to date against Hezbollah's infrastructure in Lebanon, according to an Iranian news outlet.
The agency Fars, linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, was the first to report on the new closure: "The passage of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz has been halted following Israel's attacks on Lebanon."
Israel struck nearly 100 targets in Beirut, the Bekaa Valley, and southern Lebanon, resulting in at least eight deaths and 22 injuries in Sidon, and at least four deaths in an attack on a car in Kila. Israeli authorities also issued evacuation orders in Al-Abassiya, in the Tyre district, and alerts for citizens in southern Beirut.
The new closure highlights the fragility of the ceasefire agreement announced on Tuesday by President Donald Trump, who posted on Truth Social the suspension of bombings against Iran for two weeks, conditioned on the "complete, immediate, and secure" opening of the Strait of Hormuz.
"Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir of Pakistan, who requested that I halt the destructive force that was to be sent to Iran tonight, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack on Iran for a period of two weeks," Trump wrote.
The truce, mediated by Pakistan, had allowed the first ships to cross the strait in the early hours of this Wednesday: the Daytona Beach did so at 06:59 UTC and the NJ Earth at 08:44 UTC, while about 800 ships remained trapped in the Persian Gulf waiting to take advantage of the two-week window.
However, the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel made it clear from the beginning that the ceasefire "does not include Lebanon," and Trump himself confirmed this Wednesday that Israel's attacks against Hezbollah were not part of the agreement.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, one of the main mediators, had insisted that the ceasefire should be implemented "everywhere," including Lebanon, but his stance did not prevail. The Norwegian Refugee Council warned that excluding Lebanon from the ceasefire "threatens to fuel further escalation and undermine stability."
This is the second closure of the strait since the conflict began. On March 4, Iran blocked the passage for the first time using mines, drones, and missiles, stranding 2,000 ships with 20,000 sailors and collapsing 97% of maritime traffic, which caused the price of Brent crude to soar from 67 to over 126 dollars per barrel.
The Strait of Hormuz accounts for 20% of the world's oil and 20% of the liquefied natural gas traded globally, making each closure a direct threat to global energy markets.
In parallel to the crisis, Trump proposed on Wednesday to create a joint venture with Iran to collect tolls in the strait: "We are thinking of doing it as a joint venture. It's a way to secure it. It's something beautiful," said the president. The proposal was rejected by international law experts, who noted that imposing tolls violates the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The formal negotiations between the United States and Iran are still scheduled for April 10th in Islamabad, with Vice President JD Vance and Iranian representative Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf as the main interlocutors, and Pakistan, Egypt, and Turkey as mediators.
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