Trump warns Iran's president to 'watch his mouth' over uranium enrichment claim

President Donald Trump escalated pressure on Iran on Sunday, warning that the United States could impose tolls on the Strait of Hormuz if Tehran fails to reach a deal.

Fox News reported that Trump said the US would "take over the Strait of Hormuz if necessary" and would "charge tolls" if Iran does not agree to a deal.

Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst, who said he spoke with Trump by phone for more than 20 minutes that day, also reported that Trump said, "I'll blow them up."

The remarks came just as a US negotiating team led by Vice President JD Vance was preparing to enter follow-up high-level talks with Iran, building on a cease-fire memorandum of understanding signed in Lucerne, Switzerland, under the mediation of Pakistan and Qatar.

Trump described his vision of controlling the strait as the United States becoming a "guardian angel" of the Strait of Hormuz and the broader Middle East. He added that the US would ultimately collect tolls amounting to 20 percent of the crude oil passing through the waterway.

Trump also said he had spoken with Iranian officials the previous night, telling them: "If you blockade the strait, you will not have a country, and you will not be able to return to your damn country."

Yingst noted that Trump's remarks were "a response to Iran saying it would blockade the Strait of Hormuz again in response to Israeli airstrikes targeting Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon."

Trump had expressed a similar position the previous day in a post on his Truth Social account.

He wrote that there would be no tolls on the Strait of Hormuz during the 60-day truce period, and none after it expires either — "unless a final deal is not reached, in which case tolls would be imposed by and for the United States to recoup past, present and future costs incurred for the service the US has provided as the guardian angel of Middle Eastern nations."

In the same call with Yingst, Trump also addressed comments by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who had insisted that Iran must retain the right to enrich uranium. Trump warned that Pezeshkian "better watch his mouth," adding that if the Iranian president "doesn't straighten out," the US would "take over the rest of that country," Fox News reported.