Trump demanded a fee from those passing through the Strait of Hormuz, but then backed down

US President Donald Trump has stated that the United States will restart its naval blockade of Iran and “become the guardian” of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump added that the US will charge a 20 percent toll on ships transiting through the strait.

Donald Trump revealed his plans for the Strait of Hormuz in an interview with Fox News and in a post on his Truth Social platform. The US Navy-led Joint Maritime Information Center subsequently added that the blockade would begin at 20:00 GMT on Tuesday.

Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer at the School of Security Studies at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera that Trump’s proposal “looks much more like an improvised political remark than a developed policy.” Krieg explained that Washington “has no legal mechanism to impose charges on international shipping through the strait, nor does it physically control the waterway.”

Arsenio Dominguez, the secretary-general of the United Nations shipping agency, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), told Al Jazeera in April that the introduction of tolls in waterways goes against international law. The IMO stated on Monday that it opposed any imposition of fees for passage through the strait, noting there “is no legal basis through which to introduce mandatory tolls simply to transit through a strait.”

Updated: Trump later announced he was abandoning the plan to collect the fee, citing pleas from Gulf allies.