US President Donald Trump on Monday reinstated a blockade on vessels traveling to and from Iranian ports and coastlines, and said the United States would collect a toll equivalent to 20% of cargo value from merchant ships transiting the strait. [UPI]
US President Donald Trump on Monday reinstated a blockade on vessels traveling to and from Iranian ports and coastlines, and said the United States would collect a toll equivalent to 20% of cargo value from merchant ships transiting the strait. [UPI]

US President Donald Trump on Monday reinstated a naval blockade against Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and said the United States would collect a toll equal to 20% of a ship's cargo as payment for guaranteeing safe passage through the waterway.

"The Strait of Hormuz is open, with or without Iran," Trump posted on Truth Social. "We are reinstating the Iran blockade."

Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for US Central Command, which is conducting the war against Iran, told The New York Times that the military was working through the details and coordination, and that US warships would begin enforcing the blockade later that day.

Trump had earlier ordered the US military on April 13 to blockade vessels traveling to and from Iranian ports and coastlines — a strategy aimed at worsening Iran's economic hardship by cutting off its energy exports and imports of essential goods. With the United States and Iran exchanging airstrikes, Trump appears to have returned to applying economic pressure on Tehran through a maritime blockade.

With the counter-blockade reinstated, the standoff between the United States and Iran has reverted to where it stood before the two countries signed a cease-fire memorandum of understanding. The New York Times wrote that "amid escalating rhetoric and military exchanges, the two countries are once again slowly drifting toward war."

Trump also unveiled a plan to charge civilian vessels from other countries a toll for US military protection as they transit the Strait of Hormuz. "America will from this point forward be known as 'The Guardian of the Strait of Hormuz,'" he said, adding that the United States would "be compensated 20% of all cargo shipped for all costs necessary to provide safety and security in this very unstable part of the world." Trump said that "the process and structure will begin immediately."

CNN described the plan as "charging commercial shippers 20% of the value of their cargo." In effect, the US military would collect a toll-like fee in exchange for blocking Iranian attacks on civilian vessels and guaranteeing their safe passage through the strait.

Trump outlined the same plan earlier that morning in a phone interview with Fox News, saying that "we've been guarding the strait for free, but from now on we will guard it and be paid a tremendous amount of money for doing so."

The United States has long criticized Iran's plans to collect transit fees in the Strait of Hormuz, yet Trump's proposal differs little from what Tehran had in mind. For countries that have relied on the strait for trade, the war — sparked in large part by US and Israeli military action against Iran — has already inflicted severe damage, and Washington now appears to be demanding a protection fee in exchange for helping ships through. Both Iran and the United States are asserting control over the strait and seeking to collect tolls in a waterway where international law guarantees freedom of navigation, a stance likely to draw sharp criticism and resentment from the international community.

The move also stands in direct contradiction to Washington's own stated position. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during a Middle East trip on June 23, voiced opposition to Iran's attempts to impose transit fees in the Strait of Hormuz, saying: "No country can impose tolls or fees on an international waterway. That is current international law."


kate01@heraldcorp.com