Trump demands 20% fee for protecting ships in Strait Hormuz

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump declared the return of a naval blockade on Iranian ports on Monday, saying Washington would impose hefty fees on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz as fighting once again flared over the vital waterway.Iran’s military command insisted it would not allow the US to “interfere” in the key conduit for oil and gas, while also warning its Gulf neighbors against cooperating with Washington.The competing claims came as the two sides traded attacks of a scale unseen since an April ceasefire. The US military said it hit dozens of targets on Monday, while Iran’s IRGC announced new strikes in response on Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Oman.The Strait of Hormuz was not an issue before the Iran war broke out in February, and passage through it was free.However, Tehran subsequently blocked the waterway and now sees it as essential leverage over Washington.The US has vehemently opposed Tehran’s desire to charge tolls in the strait, which international law generally forbids, but on Monday, Trump flipped the script and declared that Washington itself would collect fees.In a post on his Truth Social site, Trump declared that the US would be “known as ‘The Guardian of the Hormuz Strait’,” and “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”.While Iran’s ports would again be blockaded, he said, “all other countries will have fair and open use of the strait”.Until now, the US had said the strait should remain open to all without tolls – as it was before Washington and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February. Any attempt by the US or Iran to charge fees would violate global norms on freedom of navigation and would be likely to cause further economic disruption far beyond the region.The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 7.8% to $81.92 a barrel on Monday, still well below the $120 (£90) reached at the height of the war.Trump warned Iran of more strikes, blaming Tehran for breaking the framework deal to end the war signed by both sides in mid-June.“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,” the US president said in a statement released by the White House.The spokesman for Iran’s Khatam Al-Anbiya central military command, however, insisted that Tehran “under no circumstances will allow… the United States to interfere in the management” of the strategic waterway.Mohammed Mokhber, an adviser to Iran’s Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, said Tehran will “defend” the Strait of Hormuz.“We defend it so that in the future, for the passage of our ships, we are not forced to pay tribute to the enemy,” Mokhber said in a post on X.“Retreating from this vital matter has no place in the mind of any friend of Iran.”The military confrontation in the Strait of Hormuz continued on Monday, with Iranian state television reporting that “this morning, two ships that were attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz illegally were targeted and stopped by warning shots fired by the navy of the Revolutionary Guards.”In parallel, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that for the first time, the US military used maritime drones to strike an Iranian submarine and a maintenance facility at the Bandar Abbas naval base on Sunday.CENTCOM published a video of the operation, saying that “three Corsair unmanned surface vessels hit the port at Bandar Abbas Naval Base, marking the first time American forces have employed sea drones in combat operations.”Meanwhile, in a concerted European effort, the foreign ⁠ministers ⁠of Germany, France, and Britain condemned ⁠Tehran’s attacks on the Gulf countries on Sunday.“We ‌condemn Iran’s heinous attacks on merchant shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and on countries in ⁠the region including Qatar, ⁠Kuwait, Oman and Jordan,” they said in a ⁠joint statement.The UK announced that it would designate Iran’s IRGC as a national security threat, which would see its supporters potentially face jail sentences.Despite declaring the ceasefire with Iran was “over” last week, Trump has said negotiations aimed at finding a permanent settlement would continue.He told Fox News that there were hours of talks on Sunday, but accused Iranian negotiators of going back on their agreement.Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said earlier on Monday that the June framework deal, which formed the basis for the negotiations and lifted the US blockade, was “in crisis”.The previous blockade, in place from April to June, cut off Iranian oil exports and threatened a damaging shutdown of the industry.Baqaei said Iran would ignore its obligations under the deal if the US did the same, but nonetheless added that Tehran was continuing talks with mediators from Qatar, Pakistan and Oman in an effort to prevent further escalation.The past week’s hostilities have centred on the critical energy trade route, which Iran’s IRGC said was “closed”.On Monday, IRGC spokesperson Hossein Mohebi accused Washington of endangering global oil and gas supplies by interfering in the strait, saying it “must be held accountable” while insisting on Tehran’s sovereignty over Hormuz.Amid the fighting, mediators have been trying to salvage a diplomatic resolution to the war.Pakistan, one of the two key intermediaries in negotiations together with Qatar, expressed “deep concern at escalation in regional tensions”, according to its foreign office.Bader Al-Saif, associate fellow at Chatham House, said the escalating attacks would merely delay a permanent agreement.”Both sides want to end the impasse on their own terms, and they are increasingly finding it difficult to do so. Hence the return to and increase in the scale of attacks,” Al-Saif said.”That only prolongs what will eventually happen: a negotiated settlement,” he added.Iranian state media reported deaths in the latest US strikes, which it said targeted large areas across the south and west.At least 25 people have been killed in Iran since hostilities resumed on Wednesday, according to a tally based on Tehran’s announcements.Bahrain’s military accused Iran of committing “heinous attacks with missiles and drones that target civilians”, adding it had shot down a number of Iranian projectiles Monday morning.Iran insists that it only targets US interests in the Gulf, but on Monday afternoon, the spokesman for its military command said that any collaboration by Gulf countries with the US would be considered “an act of war”.