Iran and White House say the Strait of Hormuz is ‘completely open.’ But it definitely isn’t—at least for now

Iran and the White House both declared the valuable Strait of Hormuz choke point “completely open” on April 17, and benchmark crude oil prices plunged below $90 per barrel for the first time since early March. But Iran is still asserting its control over the strait, and President Donald Trump maintained that the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports continues for now.

Translation: Virtually nothing has changed yet, and the markets overreacted to the announcements, although peace talks are seemingly making notable progress, energy and geopolitical analysts told Fortune.

“The strait remains closed for now,” said Matt Reed, vice president of geopolitical and energy consultancy Foreign Reports. “The Iranians made clear that nothing has really changed yet. They still want ships to follow their orders. That means being rerouted. It means maybe paying tolls.

“When Iran said that the strait was completely open, it came with an asterisk.”

Despite the confusion on Friday, Reed said, there is clear progress being made in the negotiations.

“If there if there is a breakthrough to be had, it might not be for a few more days,” Reed said. “We are clearly inching in the right direction, but there’s still a long way to...