President of the United States Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he will remove the 20% fee for ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
“After very productive talks with Middle East leaders, I have decided to replace the United States’ 20% reimbursement fee with trade and investment agreements that the various Gulf states will sign with the United States. Those investments will be ENORMOUS, but at the same time extraordinarily beneficial for them and their future,” the president wrote on his Truth Social account.
“Oil is flowing like never before, thanks to the impressive military might of the United States. A special salute to the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Caine, and the Commander of U.S. Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper. Thanks to them, and to all members of the most powerful military in the world, the Strait of Hormuz is open to all maritime traffic except Iran, because of its lying, violent and malicious leadership that is leading them toward total destruction. Therefore, we will impose a total blockade, but only on vessels that enter or leave Iranian ports or that carry anything related to Iranian cargo,” he said.
He added: “As everyone knows, we have the largest dollar-based investment in U.S. history, but these new investments will make that number even greater, and we will see factories, plants and equipment arrive in the United States at historic levels, creating millions of well-paid American jobs.”
“The United States is WINNING again, winning like never before. The days when Iran killed hundreds of thousands of people, including 52,000 protesters, are OVER and, most importantly, IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!” he concluded.
The president’s comments came after U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) completed a third consecutive wave of strikes against Iran in the early hours of Tuesday. The strikes followed the president’s warning that Iran would be struck “very hard” and his assertion that “there is nothing they can do about it. They have nothing.” CENTCOM later said the operation targeted Iranian military capabilities connected to the Strait of Hormuz.
Soon after the bombings, the United Arab Emirates reported that Iranian cruise missiles struck two Emirati oil tankers sailing in the southern lane of the Strait of Hormuz, in Omani territorial waters. The attack killed one crew member and wounded eight others.
Following the nighttime strikes, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed new missile and drone attacks on the Jufair naval base in Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet, and said it also struck an airbase in Jordan used by U.S. forces.
After a memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran collapsed and hostilities resumed last week, Trump said the strait would remain open “with or without Iran.” In response, Iran’s senior military leadership asserted that Washington has no authority over the strait’s future, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi wrote on X: “Tehran will always be the guardian of the Strait.”