Trump restarts Iran blockade as U.S. plans 20% Hormuz charge

U.S. President Donald Trump has reinstated the American blockade of Iranian ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz and demanded a 20% reimbursement for all other cargo shipped through the waterway.

Trump’s announcement, in which he asserted the U.S. would become the waterway’s “GUARDIAN,” intensifies an ongoing spat between Washington and Tehran over the status of the shipping passage at the center of the two nations’ revived conflict.

American military forces were set to resume blockading traffic to and from Iranian ports and coastal areas beginning Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement. It said later on X that it had completed the latest in a series of strikes over the past week after a five-hour mission aimed at degrading “Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping.”