President Says Washington Will Secure the Strait of Hormuz and Charge a 20% Reimbursement on All Cargo as U.S.-Iran Tensions Escalate
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced on Monday that the United States would reinstate a naval blockade on Iran and seek a 20% reimbursement on all cargo passing through the Strait of Hormuz after Tehran claimed it had closed the strategically important waterway.
"The Hormuz Strait is OPEN, and will remain OPEN, with or without Iran. We are reinstating THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
"The U.S.A... will be reimbursed, at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped, for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the World," he added.
Trump said the process would begin immediately but did not provide further details.
'Guardian Angel of the Strait'
The U.S. president first raised the proposal during a phone interview on Fox News' Fox & Friends, where he suggested the United States would likely assume control of the strategic waterway and should be compensated for maintaining its security.
"We're going to keep the strait, and we'll probably run it. We'll become the guardian of the strait. Maybe we'll call it the guardian angel of the strait. And we should be reimbursed for that," Trump said during the interview.
Control of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for global oil supplies, has emerged as one of the central flashpoints in the conflict. Iran's effective blockade of the waterway has driven energy prices higher and intensified global concerns over inflation.
"We're going to be reimbursed, because the other nations are very wealthy. They're on our side, and we can't be expected to do that for nothing," Trump said.
After announcing the closure of the waterway on Saturday following what it described as an unauthorized transit, Tehran said on Sunday that shipping through the strait would remain suspended, with permits to be issued only after "stability and calm" had been restored.
"We had a deal. It was a done deal, and then they broke it. They always break it. We've had 10 deals with these people, and so we're just going to hit them very hard," Trump said.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said in a statement on Monday that the only way to restore normal shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was for the United States to end its military interventions in the waterway. The group warned that "continued interference could lead to greater incidents in the global oil and gas sector."
U.S. and Iranian forces exchanged heavy missile and drone strikes over the weekend and into Monday. Tehran said it had targeted U.S. military facilities across the Gulf while continuing to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed, sending oil prices higher.
The latest wave of attacks represents a significant escalation in both the intensity and geographic scope of the conflict over the past week, raising fresh doubts over the interim U.S.-Iran agreement signed last month to reopen the strait and suspend hostilities while both sides pursued an additional 60 days of negotiations.
