US to lift Strait of Hormuz blockade as peace agreement with Iran reached

The Navy will lift its two-month-long blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump announced, after the United States and Iran reached an agreement to end the war.

Posting to social media, Trump said that he authorized “the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade.”

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif first announced that a deal had been reached on Sunday. Both parties will meet in Switzerland to sign the agreement on Friday, June 19, Sharif said.

The United States and Iran have essentially been carrying out dual blockades of the strait, with Iran closing traffic through the vital waterway except for vessels it authorizes to travel and the United States Navy turning ships back or firing on them to stop. CENTCOM said earlier on Sunday that it had directed 142 commercial vessels and disabled nine others. The blockade has involved aircraft carriers, multiple destroyers and several aircraft.

Nether U.S. Central Command nor the Pentagon has commented on the agreement and Trump’s remarks, nor have they responded to questions from Task & Purpose about Trump’s statement on the blockade.

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“Both sides have declared the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” Sharif wrote in his post on X. Fighting in Lebanon has been a major sticking point for negotiations, as Israel has carried out large-scale strikes in the country, to Tehran’s anger, including one on Beirut’s suburbs this weekend.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi confirmed the deal had been made, including the lifting of the American blockade, and the timeline for signing the agreement.

The new ceasefire not only lifts the blockade but starts a 60-day negotiation period for a final and formal peace agreement.

The agreement comes after a breakdown of the ceasefire enacted in April. Although limited fighting had broken out since the April 8 agreement, in the last week American and Iranian forces have traded heavy fire, with Iran firing missiles at Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan while the U.S. and Israel attacked Tehran. On Thursday, Trump said that large-scale attacks on Iran had been called off, although continued skirmishes between the two sides have continued around the strait.

Since the war started in February, the United States suffered heavy casualties across multiple countries, with more than 400 troops wounded in attacks on bases in the Middle East. 13 troops died in the fighting, from strikes on American bases and in aircraft crashes. Additionally, the U.S. lost multiple F-15 fighter jets, several refueling tankers and helicopters, alongside damage to radar installations and other facilities.

This is a developing story.