The Iranian regime wants to pocket $1million for each ship that passes through the reopened Strait of Hormuz for two weeks, while the US and Iran negotiate a peace deal, regional officials have claimed.
President Donald Trump announced last night that Iran has agreed to a two-week ceasefire and will reopen the crucial waterway, while a ten-point peace plan is considered by both sides.
The exact terms of the deal have not been revealed. Trump told Sky News this morning: ‘They are very good points – and most of them have been fully negotiated. If it isn’t good, we’ll go right back to it very easily.’
However, earlier, an unnamed regional official told the Associated Press that Iran wants to charge tolls of up to $1million on ships that pass through the Strait during the two-week period.
The ten-point plan also says that the US should accept Tehran’s continued control over the Strait, recognise its right to uranium enrichment, lift all sanctions, pay compensation, and withdraw all troops from the region.
Iran would then use the money it raises for reconstruction following the weeks-long conflict.
On Tuesday, Trump described the deal as ‘total and complete victory.’
But he would not say whether he would fulfill his prior threats to destroy Iran’s civilian infrastructure if Tehran reneged on the agreement, only saying: ‘You’re going to have to see.’
And in a later Truth Social post just past midnight, he said the US would be ‘helping with the traffic buildup in the Strait of Hormuz,’ adding: ‘Big money will be made.’
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said that if attacks against Iran stop, Iranian operations will cease as well.
The country’s military will coordinate safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz during the ceasefire, he added in a post on X.
The US and Iran will now engage in negotiations over the next two weeks, buying some time to try to reach a permanent settlement.
It is unlikely to be smooth sailing, but in after-hours trading, the price of a barrel of oil dropped below the $100 mark for the first time in days, and US stock futures soared.
Following the confirmation of the deal, the US President hailed ‘a big day for world peace’ after agreeing to pause the attacks.
Iran has ‘had enough’ of the conflict, the US president said on Truth Social, and there will now be ‘lots of positive action’.
Israel has also agreed to halt attacks on Iran for two weeks, a senior White House official told Axios, with the ceasefire taking effect once the Strait of Hormuz is reopened.
Iran accepted the Pakistan-brokered deal after a last-minute Chinese intervention urged Tehran to show flexibility over the war’s economic fallout, three Iranian officials told the New York Times.
However, the ceasefire deal has also received heavy criticism with US representative Maxwell Frost saying of the deal: ‘A last-minute ceasefire doesn’t erase President Trump’s reckless decisions that got us here.
‘We should’ve never been in this illegal war. Trump is a dangerous warmonger who pushed us into this crisis and threatened to commit war crimes.’
Victor LaGroon, a former US Army intelligence analyst and national security expert, echoed these concerns, telling theGrio that details remain unclear regarding Iran’s 10-point plan and ‘what the U.S. achieved in this agreement.’
‘I, like every American, believe that peace is a good thing, but, given the number of times this administration has moved the goal post of what success looks like, I fear this war will continue to cost us billions of dollars and possibly American lives,’ said LaGroon.
US crude oil prices plunged after Trump’s announcement, with West Texas Intermediate contracts falling by more than 15 percent to $95 per barrel after hitting $116 earlier Tuesday.
Trump had warned Tuesday morning that ‘a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again’ if no deal was reached by his 8pm ET deadline.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is also heading to the Middle East this morning, where he will meet with RAF crews protecting allied airspace, before addressing troops.
In the first comments on the deal, Sir Keir Starmer said: ‘I welcome the ceasefire agreement reached overnight, which will bring a moment of relief to the region and the world.
‘Together with our partners, we must do all we can to support and sustain this ceasefire, turn it into a lasting agreement and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.’
He will be holding bilateral meetings with ‘Gulf partners’ and ‘regional leaders’ today – although Downing Street is yet to say who exactly he’ll be meeting.
Number 10 has said these will focus on ‘practical efforts to restore freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz’.
