President Trump warned Iran Saturday it had two days left to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping or face “Hell.”
“Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out – 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them,” Trump posted.
“Glory be to GOD!” he concluded in his message.
“Time is running out – 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them,” Trump posted. APTrump’s reiteration of his Easter Monday deadline comes as the US continues its frantic search to locate a pilot whose F-15 was downed over Iran, following the successful rescue of a co-pilot.
Iran has continued to fire missile attacks against Israel and US Gulf allies.
He had previously announced the extension and 10-day deadline on March 26. Commercial traffic through the Strait, which handles 20% of the world’s shipped oil supply, has dramatically slowed after oil tankers have been hit multiple times and Iran has threatened US and Israeli carriers.
Trump’s demand that Iran open the Strait came after a second Turkish ship made it through the Strait, the country’s transportation minister Saturday.
“This was possible due to our initiatives and also because these ships were using Iranian ports or were carrying cargo to or from Iran,” Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu told CNN Türk. The first Turkish vessel made it through March 13th after receiving permission from Iran.
Iran has been claiming sovereignty over the Strait and demanding tolls – worrying US policymakers who fear the regime could exploit the situation to get new revenue to cling to power.
Traffic through the Strait has dropped 90%, CNBC reported.
Iran has continued to fire missile attacks against Israel and US Gulf allies. Anadolu via Getty Images
Smoke rising from the Thai bulk carrier ‘Mayuree Naree’ near the Strait of Hormuz after an attack, on March 11, 2026. ROYAL THAI NAVY/AFP via Getty ImagesA container ship owned by a French company made it through, the Financial Times reported Friday, as have three Oman-linked tankers and a Japanese-owned tanker carrying liquified natural gas.
A senior leader of the Houthis, an Iran-backed proxy group, has threatened to shut another vital waterway – the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, if any US Gulf allies join the campaign against Iran.
“The option of closing the Bab el-Mandeb Strait is a Yemeni option that can be implemented should the aggression against Iran and Lebanon escalate savagely, or if any Gulf state becomes directly involved in military operations in support of the [Zionist] entity or the United States,” Houthi Deputy Information Minister Mohammed Mansour told AL-Monitor.
