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You’ll be shocked to hear this, but President Donald Trump doesn’t seem to know how to handle the Strait of Hormuz.

On Friday morning, Iran declared that the strait was finally reopened for all commercial, nonmilitary ships hoping to traverse the essential waterway, provided that all entrants follow a “coordinated route” determined by Iranian authorities. It should, in theory, be a massive burden lifted from the global economy, which has suffered from the closure of a passage that’s supremely important for the global oil trade. But in practice, besides American oil traders, no one appears to be celebrating or taking this too seriously just yet. Per the BBC, oil and gas tanker companies aren’t rushing to run through the strait, telling the broadcaster that the news “doesn’t change anything.” The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has claimed that only it will determine who gets to go through the sea lane, and the terms are still being “verified” by the International Maritime Organization. Iranian media outlets are questioning their own government’s messaging around the strait.

And the United States, for its part, is still keeping up its naval blockade across Iranian ports, a move it had purportedly intended as retaliation for Iran’s refusal to fully reopen the strait during the two nations’ ceasefire. Saudi Arabia has been itching for Trump to end that blockade, and his simple “thank-you” message to the Gulf royals isn’t likely to satisfy them. Iran itself has stated that it considers a blockade to be a violation of its peace deal with the U.S.—a stance it still holds as of Friday,........

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