Article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
(Photo by Iranian Foreign Ministry / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Just weeks after Trump’s secretary of state admitted that “no country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway,” the president demanded 20%, far higher than the 1-2% sought by Iran.
The Iranian foreign minister on Monday mocked President Donald Trump’s announcement that he was renewing the US blockade of Iran and that he expected a 20% fee from commercial vessels for “guarding” the key waterway.
“POTUS is absolutely right,” the minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, wrote on social media. “Whoever provides secure and safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz should be compensated for this service.”
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“Iran has always been the GUARDIAN of the Strait and will remain so FOREVER,” he added. “20% is of course too much. We will be fair.”
Trump had called in to “Fox & Friends” on Monday. He said on-air that the United States would be “the guardian angel of the strait” and “we’re gonna get paid for guarding it.”
Later Monday morning, he had written on Truth Social that “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.”
Critics and experts have highlighted that Trump’s 20% toll is far higher than the 1-2% sought by Iran, and warned that Trump had perhaps unintentionally bolstered Iran’s case for imposing its own fee on ships in the strait.
Others have pointed out that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told journalists just a few weeks ago that “no country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway. That’s existing international law. That’s the way it is in international waterways all over the world, and that’s the way we expect it’ll be here. So I don’t think we have anybody to convince around here in that regard. I think all the countries in this region would agree with us.”
Article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
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