Published on 08/04/2026 - 19:21 GMT+2•Updated 20:28

The United States said on Wednesday that Iran must open the Strait of Hormuz "immediately, quickly and safely" after reports that the strategic waterway was shut despite a US-Iran ceasefire.

Any closure "is completely unacceptable," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

"I will reiterate the president's expectation and demand that the Strait of Hormuz is reopened immediately quickly and safely."

One of the major points in the two-week ceasefire agreement was that Iran would allow the resumption of shipping through Hormuz, easing a disruption in the flow of oil and gas which has sent prices soaring around the world.

Leavitt also said that President Donald Trump wants to see the waterway accessible to tankers without any limitations, including tolls.

"The immediate priority of the president is the reopening of the strait without any limitations, whether in the form of tolls or otherwise," Leavitt said.

Leavitt's comments come after Iranian state media reported on Wednesday that Tehran had closed the Strait of Hormuz in response to attacks by Israel on Lebanon.

The move comes on the same day a two-week ceasefire between Tehran and Washington came into force, ending more than a month of fighting.

The Fars news agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said that while two oil tankers passed through the strait with permission from Iran earlier on Wednesday, traffic has now been stopped.

Both US President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the ceasefire agreement did not include Lebanon, claims denied by mediator Pakistan.

"Aggression towards Lebanon is aggression towards Iran," General Seyed Majid Mousavi, aerospace commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, wrote in a post on X.

He warned that Iranian forces were preparing a "heavy response" without revealing details.

The fresh violence has already threatened to scuttle what US Vice President JD Vance called a "fragile" deal.

Lebanon's health ministry said that at least 112 people had been killed and 837 others wounded in a wave of air strikes launched by Israel.

Israel's military called it the largest coordinated strike in the current war, striking more than 100 Hezbollah targets within 10 minutes in Beirut, southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa valley.

"The Israeli enemy's airstrikes on numerous Lebanese areas, reaching the capital Beirut, have led, in an updated non-final toll, to 112 martyrs and 837 wounded," the ministry said in a statement.

Israel's military said it had targeted missile launchers, command centres and intelligence infrastructure and accused Hezbollah of using civilians as human shields.

"The State of Lebanon and its civilians must refuse Hezbollah's entrenchment in civilian areas and its weapons build-up capabilities," the military said in a statement.

Israel has rarely struck central Beirut since the outbreak of the latest Israel-Hezbollah war on 2 March but has regularly struck southern and eastern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs.

Before the wave of new strikes, a Hezbollah official told the Associated Press news agency that the group was giving a chance for mediators to secure a ceasefire in Lebanon, but "we have not announced our adherence to the ceasefire since the Israelis are not adhering to it."

Additional sources • AP, AFP