This legalizes the collection of money in Hormuz, the only
question is who will be able to collect that money.
“US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the US is
reinstating the blockade of Iranian ports and imposing a fee on all ships
sailing through the Strait of Hormuz.
“The Strait of Hormuz is open and will remain open, with or
without Iran. We are reinstating the Iranian blockade, so called because it
only prevents Iranian ships or customers from entering or leaving. All other
countries will be able to use the Strait fairly and freely,” Trump wrote on the
Truth Social network.
He added that “the United States will now be known as the
‘Guardian of the Strait of Hormuz,’ but as such and in the interest of
fairness, it will receive a 20% compensation on the value of all cargo shipped
for all costs necessary to ensure safety and security in this very volatile
region of the world. This process and the creation of the structure will begin
immediately.”
Earlier on Monday, in an interview with Fox News, Trump said
that the United States intends to take over the Strait of Hormuz and should
receive compensation for control of this vital waterway.
“We will guard the Strait and, probably, control it. We will
become the guardians of the Strait,” Trump said on Fox and Friends, adding that
the United States has guarded it “for nothing” until now, but now rich
countries will reimburse them for the costs.
“We will be paid to protect him. A lot of money, but we just
want to be compensated for doing all this, for putting our people in danger,”
he added.
He also complained about the tactics of Iranian negotiators,
saying they were trying to change what was agreed upon “yesterday” in hours of
talks.
Iran’s military warned on Monday that it would not allow the
United States to “interfere” in the management of the Strait of Hormuz.
“The two countries had agreed to lift the blockade and
reopen the Strait of Hormuz under a memorandum of understanding signed on June
17.
Another wave of strikes
The US military launched a new wave of strikes against Iran
on Sunday after several of Washington’s allies in the Gulf region were shelled
in renewed fighting over the Strait of Hormuz.
The clashes on Sunday evening are the latest development
undermining a tentative agreement between Washington and Tehran aimed at ending
a war that has wreaked global economic havoc since it began in late February.
The latest attack by US forces began at 9 p.m. GMT on
Sunday, the Central Command (CENTCOM) said on its social media account “X,”
after about 140 strikes were carried out overnight.
Iranian state media said the US strikes targeted large areas
in southern and western Iran, including Qeshm Island and Bandar Abbas near the
strait, and Khuzestan province bordering Iraq.
Oil prices, which fell after the deal was announced, rose
more than 3.5% in Tokyo on Monday, with U.S. benchmark WTI crude surging above
$74 a barrel.
Iran also reported strikes on two of its southern islands on
Sunday evening, while Kuwait, where Tehran has repeatedly targeted U.S.
targets, said border posts and an offshore oil platform had been attacked.
Iran's
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said its forces had carried out
several retaliatory operations overnight, targeting US military bases, missile
depots and fuel depots in Jordan, a helicopter base, electronic warfare
aircraft and a drone control center in Bahrain, as well as a Patriot air
defense system in Kuwait.
Meanwhile, the Jordanian military said on Monday it had shot
down four Iranian missiles over the country.
The renewed fighting came after Iran attacked a commercial
ship in the Strait of Hormuz early Sunday, forcing its crew to abandon ship
after it caught fire.
The IRGC said after the incident that "the Strait of
Hormuz will be closed until further notice and until the end of American
interventions in the region," the state news agency IRNA reported.
CENTCOM’s social media account, “X,” denied that the strait
was “open to all vessels seeking to legally transit it.”
The military command added that U.S. forces were “positioned
and ready to ensure” freedom of navigation, saying, “Iran does not control the
strait. Traffic is flowing.”
Control of the strategic waterway has become Iran’s main
leverage, with an adviser to the country’s supreme leader saying on Sunday that
it was more important than “dozens of nuclear bombs.”
Mediators are trying to salvage a diplomatic solution to end
the war after President Trump declared the end of the ceasefire last week.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday’s U.S. attacks had
“returned insecurity to the Strait of Hormuz” and “made all efforts” to
establish peace in the region.
Iran also said on Monday that it would no longer abide by a
memorandum of understanding signed with the United States if Washington did not
fulfill its obligations to end the war.
“Every time another country failed to fulfill its
obligations, we also failed to fulfill ours. We will continue to do so,”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeili Baqaei said at a news conference in
Tehran.”