U.S. President Donald Trump said he has decided to replace a planned 20% transit fee with trade and investment agreements involving Gulf states, while announcing a full blockade that will apply only to vessels traveling to and from Iranian ports or carrying Iranian cargo.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said oil is flowing at unprecedented levels and that the Strait of Hormuz will remain open to all ship traffic except for Iran. He said the blockade would be limited to ships bound for or departing Iranian ports, or those carrying Iranian cargo.
Trump said the decision followed what he described as highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership. He said the proposed 20% U.S. reimbursement fee would be replaced by trade and investment agreements with Gulf states, adding that the investments into the United States would be large.
According to Trump, the new investments would further increase foreign investment into the United States and lead to more factories, plants and equipment being built across the country, creating millions of high-paying American jobs.
Trump also said the United States had secured victory and stated that Iran would never acquire a nuclear weapon. In the same post, he said the days of Iran killing hundreds of thousands of people, including 52,000 protesters, were over.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran’s military strength is now only a small fraction of what it was four months ago. He added that Iraq will no longer face the same level of challenges from Iran because of its weakened military capability.
On the proposed fees for using the Strait, Trump said several world leaders, including kings and emirs, had contacted him and expressed interest in investing billions of dollars in the United States instead. He also said he does not believe any country should be allowed to charge a fee for passage through the Strait.
