Today's Edition
TEHRAN (AFP)
President Donald Trump reimposed a US naval blockade on Iranian ports on Monday and vowed hefty fees for ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, as Tehran mockingly pledged to charge a lower rate for passage through the strategic waterway.
The maritime blockade was due to begin on Tuesday midnight, the US military said, as oil prices shot up around 9% after both sides traded attacks, raising fears of renewed conflict.
Iran's top diplomat insisted Tehran would be a fair guardian in charging tolls on the waterway vital for oil and gas trade, while the Iranian military command insisted it would not allow the US to interfere in the management of the strait.
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".
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi immediately mocked Trump's threat to impose fees, saying Tehran would charge a lower rate. "POTUS is absolutely right. Whoever provides secure and safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz should be compensated for this service," he wrote on X.
Tehran's top diplomat said Iran had "always been the GUARDIAN" of the strait and would "remain so FOREVER", claiming it would charge fair tolls for safe passage. "20% is of course too much," he said.
The competing claims over the strait came as the two sides traded attacks of a scale unseen since an April ceasefire came into effect.
The US military said it hit dozens of targets on Monday, while Iran's Revolutionary Guards announced new strikes in response on Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Oman.
The US has vehemently opposed Tehran's desire to charge tolls in the strait, which international law forbids. After Trump flipped the script on Monday, the spokesman for Iran's Khatam Al-Anbiya military command insisted that Tehran "under no circumstances will allow... the United States to interfere in the management" of the strategic waterway.
