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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said the United States is reinstating a naval blockade on Iran and will seek operational control of the Strait of Hormuz as the U.S. and Iran trade strikes and exchange new threats after Trump declared the ceasefire over."We're taking over the strait. They've got nothing," Trump said in a July 13 phone interview with Fox News, asserting that the U.S. would be "reimbursed" by other Middle East countries for operating the strait, a critical corridor for oil shipments in the region.Trump's comments came after the U.S. launched a new round of military strikes against Iran on July 12 after Tehran targeted U.S. facilities across the Persian Gulf and declared it had again closed the Strait of Hormuz, marking another escalation in the diplomatic breakdown between the two countries.In a Truth Social post shortly after his interview, Trump said he is renewing a blockade that will prevent Iranian ships from using the Strait of Hormuz. A previous U.S. blockade on Iran's ports was lifted in June when the U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding, but the preliminary agreement has quickly fallen apart."The Hormuz Strait is OPEN, and will remain OPEN, with or without Iran. We are reinstating the THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE, so named because it is only stopping Iran’s ships or customers from entering or leaving. All other countries will have fair and open use of the Strait," Trump said."The U.S.A. will be, from this point forward, known as 'THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT,'" he added.Trump said the U.S. will be "reimbursed" by charging countries a fee of 20% of the value of all cargo shipped to cover "any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the World."It was not immediately clear whether U.S. allies in the Middle East had agreed to pay the cargo fees under Trump's reimbursement plan.Despite the renewed hostilities with Iran, Trump told Fox News that U.S. negotiators thought they had a deal for a long-term peace plan with Iran following a 11-hour meeting that took place July 12, but Iranian leaders later sought new demands."What nobody knows, we had a deal. It was a done deal, and then they broke it. They always break it. We've had 10 deals with these people, and so we're just going to hit them very hard," Trump said."And we're going to keep the strait, and we'll probably run it. We'll become the guardian of the strait. Maybe we'll call it the 'guardian angel of the strait.' And we should be reimbursed for that. When we do that, we're going to be reimbursed because the other nations are very wealthy, they're on our side," the president said.The renewed fighting and back and forth has effectively shattered the interim U.S.-Iran agreement signed in June that was intended to reopen the strait and provide a framework for ending the war through an additional 60 days of negotiations. Instead, the new exchanges have raised fears of a wider regional conflict and disruptions to global markets.Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
