Updated ,first published
Washington: Donald Trump has abandoned his plan to charge ships a fee to use the Strait of Hormuz, but says the United States will still protect the waterway in exchange for additional investment from its Gulf partners.
The US president reversed course following phone calls from “kings and emirs” in the Gulf, he said, 24 hours after he floated the idea of taking control of the strait and charging a toll of 20 per cent of cargo value.
“They said, ‘We’d love to do it a different way, we’d love to invest in the United States with billions and billions of dollars’,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
“By doing it that way there’s no fee, they’re investing, and they’re getting a return on their money, and it’s good.
“I don’t like the concept of a fee. But at the same time it’s not fair that we’re protecting this strait for the entire world, for China and everyone … It’s unfair that we’re not somehow compensated.”
Trump added: “I don’t think that anybody should be able to charge a fee for the strait, or for any other strait, relationship, in terms of other sections of the world. I don’t think anybody should be in that position.”
The US president did not provide details about the purported investments, or how they would relate to existing commitments made by those Gulf nations to invest in the United States.
Analysts had widely described Trump’s proposed toll as unworkable and unserious, given it would add $20 to the cost of a barrel of oil, and illegal.
Iran also immediately seized on the plan, saying 20 per cent was too much, and it would charge a “fairer” price for use of the strait.
The country’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, thanked Trump for affirming Iran’s point that “whoever provides secure and safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz should be compensated for this service”.
Trump’s backdown on Tuesday (Washington time) came just hours before US forces were due to recommence a naval blockade of all ships entering or departing Iranian ports.
The American blockade – which was in place from April to June before the US and Iran signed a Memorandum of Understanding to end hostilities – caused significant economic damage to the Islamic regime by restricting its exports.
It resumed at 6am on Wednesday (AEST), US Central Command said in a post on X.
Meanwhile, recent exchanges of fire have cast doubt on the interim peace deal, which is now almost halfway through a 60-day period in which negotiators were supposed to agree to a final accord. The final accord was meant to address Iran’s disputed nuclear program and other issues.
The US began a fresh wave of strikes at 5am on Wednesday (AEST), US Central Command said, “to continue degrading Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz”.
The targets of those strikes were not immediately clear, but for the past week the US has targeted Iranian coastal surveillance systems, radar, missile and drone sites and other infrastructure in a variety of locations, mostly near the water.
In other recent developments, Iran attacked a US Army base in Jordan with ballistic missiles, while Bahrain, which hosts a US naval base, said it had fended off an Iranian aerial attack. Jordan said it shot down four ballistic missiles, and explosions were heard in Manama, Bahrain’s capital.
The governor’s office of Iran’s Qeshm Island, on the Strait of Hormuz, said it was hit by a US projectile at around 7pm on Tuesday (1.30am Wednesday AEST), Iranian state media reported.
Meanwhile, a US projectile exploded near a water and electricity facility on Iran’s Kish Island, the country’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said. State media also reported an explosion heard in Andimeshk in southern Khuzestan province.
Trump has declared the ceasefire “over”, and formally informed Congress last week that the US was resuming strikes on Iran.
With Reuters, AP
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X or email.
