President Donald Trump said he is reinstating a blockade of the straight of Hormuz after the United States and Iran traded a new wave of air strikes sparked by activity in the key waterway, rocked the Gulf region.Trump told Fox News on July 13 that the United States may take control of the strait, which during peace time handles about one-fifth of the world's energy transit and has become one of the main battlegrounds of the conflict, and that it should be reimbursed for the task.Afterward he said in a social media post that the strait is "OPEN, and will remain OPEN, with or without Iran.""The U.S.A. will be, from this point forward, known as “THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT,” but as such, and as a matter of FAIRNESS, 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 to this very volatile section of the World," Trump wrote.Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said in a statement just before Trump's social media post that the only way to restore regular shipping traffic through the strait was to end US military intervention in the waterway.
In an angrily worded statement afterward, Iran's top joint military command said the US had no role in determining the future of the strait, warning countries cooperating with Washington "bear full responsibility for all insecurity and the escalation of the war in the region."
