"The Strait of Hormuz is open and will remain open, with or without Iran," Trump writes, partly in capital letters, on Truth Social.
According to Trump, American forces will also continue their blockade of Iranian ports. All other countries will be “given fair” access to the strait, the president writes, in exchange for a 20 percent tariff on all goods shipped through the waterway.
According to Trump, the fees should be seen as compensation for the US providing “safety and security in this very volatile part of the world.” He calls the US “the guardian of the Strait of Hormuz.”
The US regional military command Centcom announces that the blockade of maritime traffic to and from Iranian ports will resume on Tuesday at 10 p.m. Swedish time.
Iranian drift with Trump
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi jokes in a post on X about Trump's announcement of tariffs in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump is "absolutely right" that the country that secures the strait should be compensated, Araghchi writes.
"Iran has always been the guardian of the strait and will remain so forever," he writes, partly in capital letters like Trump, and adds:
"20 percent is of course too much. We have to be fair."
The UN's maritime agency IMO is awaiting more information on how the US tariffs would work, according to a statement, but criticizes the measure in principle, writes the AP news agency.
"There is no legal basis for imposing mandatory tariffs solely for passing through a strait," the organization writes in a statement.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has previously rejected the possibility of any country imposing tariffs in an international waterway like the Strait of Hormuz. There is “zero support among the Gulf states” and Trump “has been clear that it is not going to happen,” Rubio said during a visit to Bahrain on June 25.
“Unthinkable” to back down
Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader, said earlier on Monday that the Tehran regime must control Hormuz "so that we are not forced to pay ransoms to the enemy" and that backing down on the issue is "unthinkable," according to the regime-loyal Irna news agency.
A spokesman for the Iranian military headquarters, Khatam Al-Anbiya, said in a video statement that Tehran "will not allow the United States to interfere under any circumstances" in the management of the Strait of Hormuz.
