Trump says Strait of Hormuz is 'sort of open right now,' believes Iran 'can't go much longer'

President Donald Trump expressed optimism regarding the imminent conclusion of the ongoing conflict with Iran during the signing of an executive order at the White House on Thursday. He confidently stated, "I think it’s going to end pretty soon," and further asserted that "I don’t think they [Iran] can go much longer."

In relation to the Strait of Hormuz and a rumored agreement to reopen the waterway, Trump noted that the strait is "sort of open right now." He elaborated, "You know, we have a thing called the blockade, headed up by the US Navy, and we control it." However, Trump cautioned that Iran could always "shoot something" or "drop a mine" which could disrupt the situation.

He warned, "If you have one mine sitting out there, you sort of mess things up because people don’t want to take their billion-dollar boats and accidentally get hit by a mine."

On Wednesday, the White House debunked rumors that Trump and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had argued about a shortage of munitions following the war with Iran. Trump responded, "We always want more. We have to have more. We have other things, maybe come up, maybe come up, and maybe don't come up. Hopefully, nothing else does come up. But we're in very good shape. We have literally massive amounts of ammunition."

The White House continued to emphasize Trump's stance against Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon. He reiterated, "The whole world would be blown up." Trump further declared, "We’re not going to let that happen. Not only for us, not only for the Middle East, the entire world would have faced a catastrophe. We had no choice." The US, Iran, and Oman were reportedly nearing an agreement this week to temporarily open the Strait of Hormuz for a 60-day period, according to Axios.

While the White House aimed for a Wednesday announcement, as per officials cited by the report, no announcement was ultimately made. On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed progress in talks with Iran, stating that "we're hoping" for an agreement. Oman and Iran had reportedly agreed on terms for the potential deal, according to Middle East diplomats with knowledge of the negotiations.