Trump Claims U.S. Is Now Charging Ships to Use Strait of Hormuz

The president announced on social media that Iranian vessels are barred from the waterway and that eligible cargo transiting it will be assessed a 20 percent toll by the United States.

President Trump posted on social media that the U.S. is levying a 20 percent toll on cargo passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian ships, he said, will no longer be permitted to use the waterway.
The Strait of Hormuz is an international passage through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil supply moves.
No treaty or congressional authorization for the toll was cited in the announcement.
No allied government or international body had confirmed the policy at time of publication.

President Trump announced on social media Sunday that the United States is charging a 20 percent toll on eligible cargo transiting the Strait of Hormuz and that Iranian ships would no longer be permitted passage through the waterway.

The Strait of Hormuz sits between Iran and Oman and is governed under international law as a strait used for international navigation, a status that traditionally precludes any single nation from levying transit fees. Roughly one-fifth of global oil supply moves through it.

No treaty authority, executive order, or congressional authorization was cited in the announcement. No allied government had confirmed participation in enforcement. No mechanism for collection was described.

A sitting government has declared a toll on one of the world's principal chokepoints. The geometry of that claim — its reach, its legal basis, its relationship to the physical world — is what it is. The strait remains where it has always been, indifferent to the assertion.

All views remain equally meaningless.