Trump imposes Hormuz transit fee, mirroring Iran — is war back on?

US President Donald Trump has reimposed a naval blockade against Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and announced that Washington will effectively charge merchant vessels a transit fee — a dramatic escalation designed to prevent Iran from asserting control over the waterway. Yet in doing so, the United States — which had sharply criticized Iran for levying its own Hormuz transit fees — has directly challenged the freedom of navigation that international law has long guaranteed in the strait. The situation is deteriorating so rapidly that analysts say a resumption of full-scale war between the two sides may be only a matter of time.

Trump announced Monday (local time) via his Truth Social account that he was reinstating the naval blockade against Iran, signaling that US forces would once again prevent Iranian vessels from entering or leaving Iranian ports.

The lifting of that blockade had been one of the central conditions of the ceasefire memorandum of understanding, alongside keeping the Strait of Hormuz open. By reversing course, Trump made clear that Washington no longer considers itself bound by the ceasefire MOU and intends to intensify pressure on Tehran.

The move is also a direct response to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' announcement Sunday that it was imposing a complete closure of the Strait of Hormuz until further notice. Analysts say the ceasefire MOU — built around keeping the strait open and lifting the naval blockade — has now effectively collapsed.

Trump went further still. Describing the United States as the "guardian of the Strait of Hormuz," he said Washington would charge a 20 percent fee on all cargo passing through the strait, framing it as compensation for providing safe passage to shipping. The move appears intended to deny Iran any claim to controlling the waterway, with the US seeking to recoup the cost of the military assets it has deployed to keep the strait open.

Trump did not elaborate on how the United States would guarantee safe passage or how the 20 percent rate was calculated. However, a Fox News interview he gave before the Truth Social post suggested his intent is to make wealthy allies share the financial burden.

"We're going to make a lot of money" from guarding the strait, Trump said in the interview. "Other countries are very rich and they're on our side. They can't expect us to do that for free."

The remarks can also be read as an attempt to pass on to other nations the cost of US military operations in the Strait of Hormuz — echoing the logic Trump applied shortly after launching military operations against Iran, when he called on South Korea and other countries to dispatch warships after Iran moved to block the strait.

The United States had long condemned Iran for charging merchant ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz. Now that Washington has announced its own levy under the banner of security guarantees, the strait faces deeper gridlock — and the international community is bracing for significant confusion.

The Trump administration had consistently argued that the Strait of Hormuz is an international waterway where no country has the right to collect tolls or fees, using that position to criticize Iran for asserting control over the passage and billing ships for the privilege.

Having now declared its own effective 20 percent toll, the administration faces inevitable criticism that the United States not only triggered the current Hormuz crisis through its war with Iran but is now turning the chokepoint into a revenue source.

Should the Trump-imposed Hormuz levy take effect, other countries controlling strategically vital straits could well follow suit — a prospect that amounts to a direct US challenge to the long-standing principle of freedom of navigation.

Exactly how Trump's proposed fee would be calculated remains unclear. Some analysts note that a 20 percent charge on cargo value could exceed what Iran had been levying on merchant ships transiting the strait.

The ceasefire MOU between the United States and Iran had already been under severe strain before Trump reinstated the naval blockade and announced the transit fee.

Repeated cycles of US airstrikes on Iran over merchant shipping attacks in the strait, followed by Iranian counterstrikes against US military bases in the Middle East, had led many to conclude the MOU had already run its course. With armed conflict continuing, negotiating momentum on both sides had all but vanished.

Trump's unilateral announcements Monday have added to those pressures, fueling speculation that the two countries may be on the verge of resuming full-scale war.

Iran has continued attacking merchant vessels in the Strait of Hormuz despite repeated US airstrikes. Observers say Tehran may be tilting toward securing economic gains and strategic leverage through control of the strait rather than pursuing a final agreement with Washington that would lift sanctions.

Attention is also turning to a nationally televised address Trump has scheduled for Wednesday evening at 9 p.m. (10 a.m. Thursday Korean Standard Time), in which he is expected to lay out the specific direction of US policy toward Iran going forward.