A deal that could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within days has been met with caution among shipowners and traders, with many saying they would wait for more details in order to assess whether safe transits are possible after months of false starts.
The waterway — a vital conduit for global oil and gas — has been at the heart of the conflict from the start, and the urgent need to resume traffic has been a vital theme in peace discussions. Iran’s grip on the strait, combined with a US blockade, has created an unprecedented disruption to the global energy trade, all but cutting off some of the world’s largest producers and forcing even major players to resort to “dark” transits.
Even so, a temporary solution announced by the US and Iran — and a declaration from US President Donald Trump that the strait will reopen on Friday, when the agreement is signed — has left the industry questioning what that will mean in practice.
