No such unilateral move to demand fees to traverse a strait has been made in modern history<\/p>\n
Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 18, 2026\u2014REUTERS <\/p>\n
President Donald Trump said on Monday that the United States would charge 20% on cargoes<\/a> for use of the Strait of Hormuz after a ceasefire with Iran broke down<\/a> amid a dispute over Tehran’s efforts to maintain control over the strategic waterway.<\/p>\n Iran shut down the 34-kilometre-wide\u00a0strait that was the main route for a fifth of the world’s oil supplies and other \u200bvital goods, including fertilisers, when the US and Israel attacked it on February 28, causing a global energy shock<\/a>.<\/p>\n This is why it matters, how Trump’s and Iran’s stances \u200cdiffer, and how it affects the rest of the world:<\/p>\n Has the US shifted position on charging Hormuz fees?<\/strong><\/p>\n As recently as June 25, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said when meeting Gulf states and in response to Iran’s demand for fees that “no country on Earth<\/a> has the right to charge for the use of international waterways” and that shipping fees would never be part of any deal.<\/p>\n But Trump has previously mooted the possibility of the US \u200bcharging tolls if the deal with Iran were to break down.<\/p>\n “There will be no tolls in the Hormuz Strait for 60 days during the ceasefire period, and there will be \u200bno tolls after the 60 day period has expired, unless they are imposed by and for the United States of America, should the deal \u2060not be completed, for services rendered as the guardian angel to the countries of the Middle East for purposes of both past, present, and future reimbursement of costs,” he wrote in a social \u200bmedia post on June 20.<\/p>\n With the ceasefire in tatters, he now appears to have reverted to his earlier stance.<\/p>\n “The USA will be, from this point forward, known as ‘the Guardian of the Hormuz Strait’, \u200bbut as such, and as a matter of fairness, will be reimbursed, at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped,” he said in a social media post on Monday.<\/p>\n Trump has not explained how such charges would be imposed, nor what legal authority he could use to demand them for passage.<\/p>\n