President Trump announced on Truth Social that the United States is reinstating its naval blockade on Iran, a measure Washington had enforced from April until June, when it was lifted under an interim US-Iran agreement. Trump said the US would collect a 20% fee on cargo passing through the Strait of Hormuz, with the process starting immediately, though he gave no further details.
Iran’s top military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, responded by saying it would not allow the US to manage the strait, warning that any American attempt to route shipping outside paths set by Tehran, without coordinating with Iran’s armed forces, would be met with strong resistance.
The command said any regional cooperation with the US would be treated as an act of war against Iran, and that Washington and its allies would bear responsibility if the conflict spread further. A Revolutionary Guards spokesperson separately said Iran intends to keep asserting control over the strait.
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain condemned Iran’s strikes on shipping in the strait and on Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Jordan, and called for a return to the ceasefire and negotiations.
Earlier, in a phone interview with Fox News, Trump said the US would likely take charge of the strait and be paid for protecting it, saying “We’ll become the guardian of the strait.” He argued that wealthy allied nations in the region should cover the cost, rather than expecting the US to provide protection for free.
Trump also said the earlier US-Iran deal had collapsed because Iran broke it, and that the US response would be forceful; Iran, for its part, has blamed Washington for violating the agreement first and says it won’t honor the terms until the US does. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards added that ending US military involvement in the strait is the only way to restore normal shipping traffic there.
Separately, a search is continuing for a missing crew member, a third engineer, from the Cyprus-flagged container ship GFS Galaxy, which was struck by an unidentified projectile in the strait on Sunday. Twenty-three crew members were rescued by Oman’s navy after abandoning ship, and the vessel is being towed to the UAE port of Khor Fakkan while the search continues.
