Trump hints at ‘good news’ on Iran as oil tankers move through Hormuz

Washington DC – Oil tankers were crossing the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday for the first time since the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran seven weeks ago, as President Donald Trump hinted at positive developments in negotiations to end the conflict.

A convoy made up of four liquefied petroleum gas carriers and several oil product and chemical tankers was passing through Iranian waters south of Larak Island, with more vessels following from the Gulf, according to MarineTraffic data.

The strait, which before the war carried a fifth of the world’s oil supply, was reopened by Iran following a separate US-brokered ceasefire agreement reached on Thursday between Israel and Lebanon.

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Trump, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One while returning to Washington from Phoenix, Arizona, said talks were progressing but stopped short of giving detail.

“It seems to be going very well in the Middle East with Iran,” he said. “We’re negotiating over the weekend. I expect things to go well. Many of these things have been negotiated and agreed to.”

He was firm on one condition.

“The main thing is that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon, and that supersedes everything else.”

Despite the cautious optimism, Trump warned he could end the ceasefire with Iran if a long-term deal is not reached before it expires on Wednesday, and said a US blockade of Iranian ports would remain in place.

The war began on February 28 with a US-Israeli attack on Iran and has since killed thousands, spread to Israeli military operations in Lebanon, and sent global oil prices sharply higher due to the effective closure of the strait. For Eswatini, which imports all of its fuel, the disruption to global oil supply has contributed to price pressures felt at the pump and across the economy.

Oil prices fell about 10% and global stocks rose on Friday after news emerged of ships moving through the strait again.

Talks between Washington and Tehran are expected to take place in Islamabad, Pakistan, where the highest-level US-Iran negotiations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution ended without agreement last weekend. Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir concluded three days of talks in Tehran on Saturday, while Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was returning to Islamabad after separate engagements in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

A Pakistani source familiar with mediation efforts said a meeting between Iran and the US could produce an initial memorandum of understanding, followed by a comprehensive peace agreement within 60 days.

However, Iran’s speaker of parliament and senior negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf posted on social media that the strait “will not remain open” if the US blockade continued. Iran’s Defence Ministry also said military vessels and ships linked to what it called “hostile forces,” meaning the US and Israel, remained barred from passage.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the strait was open for all commercial vessels for the duration of the 10-day truce agreed on Thursday.

Differences over Iran’s nuclear programme remain a major obstacle. Trump told Reuters the US would remove Iran’s stockpiles of enriched uranium, while Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told state television the material would not be transferred anywhere.

At last weekend’s talks, the US proposed a 20-year suspension of all Iranian nuclear activity. Iran countered with a halt of three to five years. Two Iranian sources told Reuters signs of a compromise were emerging that could see part of the stockpile removed.

Trump described a possible approach to dealing with the nuclear material. “We’re going to go in with Iran, at a nice leisurely pace, and go down and start excavating with big machinery,” he said. “We’ll bring it back to the United States.”

A senior Iranian official told Reuters that billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets had been agreed for unfreezing as part of the accord. Trump, however, told a rally in Arizona on Friday that “no money will exchange hands in any way, shape or form.”

Despite the movement on the strait, Iranian sources told Reuters that “gaps remained to be resolved” before any preliminary agreement could be signed. Senior clerics struck a defiant tone during Friday prayers.

“Our people do not negotiate while being humiliated,” cleric Ahmad Khatami said.

More than a dozen countries said after a video conference on Friday that they were willing to join an international mission to protect shipping in the strait once conditions allow, according to Britain. are here for the community. We are here to grow the country,” he said.