The United States will receive payment for protecting the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday.
Earlier, Trump announced that the United States would take control of the strategically important waterway.
“We’re going to become the guardians of the Strait,” Trump told Fox News, adding that the United States had protected the Strait of Hormuz free of charge until now, but wealthy nations would begin reimbursing Washington for the costs.
“We’re going to be paid for protecting the Strait. A lot of money. We simply want to be compensated for doing all this work while putting our people at risk,” Trump said.
Later, in a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump wrote that the United States was reinstating a blockade on Iran, meaning that “Iranian ships or their customers will not be allowed to enter or leave,” while “all other nations will be guaranteed fair and free passage through the Strait.”
Trump also stated that the United States would henceforth be known as the “Protector of the Strait of Hormuz” and, “in the interest of fairness,” would receive 20% of the value of all cargo transported through the Strait to cover the costs of providing security and protection in what he described as “this very unstable region of the world.”
The United States and Iran resumed hostilities last week, effectively ending the ceasefire reached in April, with most of the fighting centred around the Strait of Hormuz. Control of the strategic waterway has become the main point of contention between Washington and Tehran.
In his interview with Fox News, Trump criticized Iran’s negotiating tactics, saying Iranian representatives had attempted to reopen issues that had already been agreed upon during hours-long talks over the weekend.
“We’re taking control of the Strait. They have nothing,” Trump said. “Yesterday they had an 11-hour meeting… Everything was agreed yesterday. Then they walked out of the room, called back and said they wanted to make a few changes,” he added, without specifying what changes Iran had requested.
An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Monday that Tehran is holding talks through mediators from Qatar, Pakistan and Oman in an effort to prevent further escalation of the conflict.
Meanwhile, Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claims that the Strait of Hormuz has been closed, while the United States maintains that the waterway remains open to international shipping and is not under Iranian control.
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