US President Donald Trump on Monday vowed to charge all cargo shipped through Hormuz to pay for keeping the strait open, and to reinstate a blockade on Iranian ships even as Washington continued to launch more strikes targetting Iran.
"The Hormuz Strait is OPEN," he posted on his Truth Social platform.
"We are reinstating THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE, so named because it is only stopping Iran's ships or customers from entering or leaving."
He added the US "will be reimbursed, at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped, for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security" through the vital waterway.
Earlier, Trump declared on 'Fox & Friends' that the United States would be "taking over" the Strait of Hormuz, prompting Iran to warn that it would not allow the US to "interfere" in the management of the waterway.
"We're going to get paid for guarding it. A lot of money, but we just want to be reimbursed for doing all of this, for putting our people in danger," Trump told 'Fox & Friends'.
Notably, a fifth of the world’s oil and gas passed through the strait before Iran asserted control over it after the start of the war.
Meanwhile, the US military said on Monday that it used one-way attack sea drones in combat for the first time to strike the port of Bandar Abbas in Southern Iran.
Three US Corsair drones targeted "a submarine and ship maintenance facility" at the port on Sunday, marking "the first time American forces have employed sea drones in combat operations," US CENTCOM said on X.
The strikes -- which highlight the growing role of drones in US combat operations -- "degraded Iran's ability to continue attacking commercial shipping," CENTCOM said.
The post included a video of sea drones exploding near two piers, sparking fires and sending smoke pouring into the air over the port.
Last month, the US military had used a Corsair drone to assist with the rescue of two US Army aviators whose Apache attack helicopter was shot down by Iran. The Corsair is a 24-foot, diesel-powered "autonomous surface vessel" can be launched at sea, allowing larger ships to deploy and retrieve it without returning to port.
The latest exchange of fire was sparked by an Iranian attack on a container ship on Sunday in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has asserted control over the critical waterway for international oil and gas since the United States and Israel started the war on Feb. 28.
Iran says it has the right to manage traffic through the strait and potentially charge fees in accordance with an interim peace deal reached last month. The US and others dispute that, citing international law on freedom of navigation, and the American military has tried to establish an alternative route outside of Iranian control.
Iran and the US are nearly halfway through the 60-day period in which they were supposed to negotiate a permanent end to the war and an agreement on Iran’s disputed nuclear program.
Instead, a series of attacks over the strait have raised fears of a return to all-out war and further disruption to the global economy.
Oil prices jumped nearly 5% on Monday before falling back.
US benchmark crude, which had risen to nearly $120 a barrel at the height of the war, was trading at around $72.92. Markets were mixed.
(With inputs form AFP and AP)
