WASHINGTON: United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday dropped the idea of charging a 20% fee on all cargo shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, and said he would instead take trade and investment deals with the Gulf states.
The change of plan comes a day after Trump proposed charging a 20% fee to guard the waterway.
“Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States reimbursement fee with trade and investment deals that the various Gulf states will be making into the United States,” he said in a post on Truth Social.
Trump did not mention any commitments by Gulf states, saying, “Investments will be massive but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future.”
Shortly after Trump made the 20% fee proposal on Monday, the UN’s shipping agency said it opposed fees on ships passing through maritime waterways but added it would await more details of what Trump had in mind.
In his post on Tuesday, Trump declared the Strait of Hormuz was open to all ship traffic except for Iran.
“We will therefore have a full blockade, but only on ships coming to and from Iranian ports, or carrying anything have to do with Iranian cargo,” he said.
Iran introduces bill to parliament to regulate transit through Hormuz
An Iranian lawmaker said on Tuesday that a new bill was submitted to parliament on the regulation of transit through the Strait of Hormuz amid military escalation with the US over the waterway.
The bill was submitted “last night, coinciding with the downing of US drones”, Ebrahim Azizi, head of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, wrote on X.
“We remain steadfast in defending our red lines, particularly regarding the management of the Strait of Hormuz,” he said.
“This is the first step; subsequent measures are forthcoming,” Aziz warned.
Oman says it continues ‘transparent, neutral cooperation’ with all parties over Hormuz
Oman said on Tuesday that it continues “transparent and neutral cooperation” with all parties to restore freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz amid escalating tensions between Iran and the US over the waterway.
“Oman continues its transparent and neutral cooperation with all parties to restore freedom of navigation in the Strait, in full compliance with international law,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“The Sultanate of Oman remains fully committed to its obligations as a State Party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and calls on all parties to respect and abide by international law,” it added.
Hormuz will reopen only ‘when Iran’s rights are respected,’ says army
The Strait of Hormuz will never reopen through United States attacks and “respecting the rights of the Iranian people” is the only path to restoring passage through the strategic waterway, an Iranian military spokesman said Tuesday.
According to Iranian state television, Iranian army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia said, “The Strait of Hormuz will never reopen through US attacks, war or evil. The only way to reopen it is by respecting the rights of the Iranian people.”
Akraminia also said Iran remains committed to avenging the killing of former supreme leader Ali Khamenei and all those who lost their lives during the war.
Hormuz cargo fee ‘would be fundamentally wrong’: Hapag-Lloyd
Charging fees for passage through international waters “would be fundamentally wrong”, German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd said, according to Al Jazeera.
The company told the Reuters news agency that it could not reliably quantify the financial impact of tensions in the Gulf region on its business.
The statement comes after US President Donald Trump said he would reinstate a naval blockade on Iran and charge 20% on all cargo shipped through the Strait of Hormuz.
Israeli regime continues to breach ceasefire in Southern Lebanon
According to the Lebanese media outlet El-Nashra, an explosion occurred in Safita on the southern outskirts of Yahmar al-Shqif town as a result of Israeli attacks, as per IRNA.
Lebanese sources stated that the Israeli attacks also caused an explosion in Kfar Tebnit, marking the second such blast within less than two hours.
At the same time, Israeli forces detonated several residential homes in Majdel Zoun in the Tyre district and Haddatha in the Bint Jbeil area early on Tuesday morning.
Lebanese sources announced that Bayut al-Siyad also came under Israeli artillery shelling early on Tuesday.
Iran strikes US bases, assets in Kuwait
In response to ongoing aggression, the Islamic Republic of Iran Army has conducted drone and missile strikes against US strategic assets in Kuwait, as well as a hostile American vessel, according to IRNA.
The Army’s Public Relations said early on Tuesday that following the hostility and aggression by the United States against Iran, the army struck the communication systems, fuel depots, Patriot system, control tower, and ammunition warehouse of the US army in Kuwait earlier in the day using its explosive‑laden drones.
It added that the Navy of the Islamic Republic, in response to missile attacks on certain military sites, targeted a hostile American vessel with cruise‑missile fire.
Iran complains over repeated US violation of Islamabad MoU in UNSC letter
Iran on Monday sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guiterres and the president of the UN Security Council, denouncing the United States for violating the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding and “continuing its acts of aggression against the Islamic Republic”, as per IRNA’s reporting.
“Almost immediately after the signing of the Memorandum, and continuing to the present day, the United States has not only failed to honour its commitments but has actively and systematically undermined the very foundations of the Memorandum,” said Iran’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Amir Saeid Iravani.
Iran says it struck US air base in Jordan, US military ends five hours of attacks
Iranian ballistic missiles targeted a US air base in Jordan on Tuesday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said, while calling on Jordanians to dismantle American bases in the kingdom.
“You know very well that not only do we not have any enmity with your country, but we also love you, the noble people, who understand the pain and oppression of the Palestinian people more than any other nation,” the IRGC said in a statement carried by Fars News.
Jordan’s armed forces said on Tuesday they intercepted and shot down four missiles that entered Jordanian airspace from Iranian territory, according to the state news agency.
The US military carried out a third consecutive night of strikes against Iran on Monday as President Donald Trump reinstated a blockade of Iranian shipping and proposed charging a 20% fee to guard the Strait of Hormuz.
US Central Command said it began strikes at Trump’s direction just after the US president told the “Hugh Hewitt Show” that Iran would be hit “very hard tonight, and we’re going to hit them hard tomorrow. And there’s not a damn thing they can do about it.” He later told reporters at the White House that the US was attacking Iranian capabilities in the strait.
Bahrain’s air defence systems intercepted and destroyed “Iranian aerial attacks” over the kingdom, Nabeel Alhamer, media adviser to Bahrain’s king, said in posts on X.
“The Hormuz Strait is OPEN, and will remain OPEN, with or without Iran. We are reinstating THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE,” Trump had said earlier on Monday on Truth Social.
“The USA 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.”
Iran’s top joint military command said the US had no role in determining the future of the waterway and would not be allowed to intervene. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X that Tehran was the guardian of the strait and would remain so “forever”, adding in response to Trump’s comments that: “20% is of course too much. We will be fair.”
UAE says Iranian missiles struck oil tankers in Strait of Hormuz, one sailor killed
One Indian crew member was killed and eight others were wounded when two Emirati oil tankers were struck by Iranian cruise missiles in the Strait of Hormuz, the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday, in the latest escalation in the strategic waterway.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s shipping arm, ADNOC L&S ADNOCLS.AD later confirmed the very large crude carriers (VLCCs) Mombasa B and Al Bahyah were struck while transiting Hormuz and had sustained “significant damage”.
UAE state oil giant ADNOC has been among the most active participants in a U.S. military-led operation to move Gulf crude out to international buyers through ship-to-ship (STS) transfers beyond the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported last month. US Central Command, which has not acknowledged the STS transfers, said on July 12 it had facilitated the transit of more than 800 vessels and over 400 million barrels of crude through the strait over the previous two months.
The UAE defence ministry said the tankers were targeted in the southern lane of the strait while in Omani territorial waters. The dead crew member was aboard the Mombasa, it said.
Of the eight wounded, four were seriously injured. Six of the wounded were Indian nationals and two were Ukrainian nationals, the ministry said.
The attacks caused material damage to both tankers after fires broke out on board. The ministry said the fires had been brought under control.
It condemned what it called a “blatant attack” and said the UAE retained “its full right to respond to this escalation”.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Tuesday that two “offending” supertankers had been hit and disabled in the Strait of Hormuz after ignoring repeated warnings, turning off navigation systems and attempting to pass through what the Guards described as a mined route.
The IRGC’s statement did not name the vessels or say whether it was referring to the same tankers cited by the UAE Ministry of Defence.
In the statement, the Guards accused the US of “inciting vessels to use an illegal route” and said cooperation with the “aggressor enemy” would only result in damage, delays in reopening the Strait of Hormuz and a global energy crisis.
Separately, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said on Tuesday that a tanker had been hit by an unknown projectile while travelling 40 nautical miles northeast of Oman’s Qalhat.
UKMTO said the tanker’s master reported that the projectile struck the starboard-side engine room and that all crew were safe.
Kuwait condemns Iran’s attack on UAE tankers
Kuwait has denounced Iran’s attacks on two Emirati oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which killed an Indian crew member and injured several others, calling it “reprehensible”, according to Al Jazeera.
The country’s foreign ministry described the act as a “flagrant violation of international law” and a “direct threat to the security and safety of maritime navigation and global energy supplies”.
It also expressed its solidarity with the UAE and urged an end to fighting in the region.
Iran rescues vessel crew after collision in Hormuz: Fars agency
Twenty-three foreign crew members have been rescued after a bulk carrier collided with another vessel north of Qeshm Island, in the Strait of Hormuz, according to the semi-official Fars news agency, as per Al Jazeera.
The bulk carrier suffered serious damage to its hull and began taking on water, prompting the captain to order an emergency evacuation, Fars said, adding that all crew members were safely transferred to Qeshm Island.
Iran has shipped 80 million barrels of oil in past 26 days, monitor says
TankerTrackers, a maritime traffic monitor, says Iran has shipped out more than 80 million barrels of crude oil and refined products, which are currently worth $6bn, in the past four-week period, according to Al Jazeera.
But millions more barrels are still awaiting departure, it said.
“Now that the US Navy blockade is being reinstated more than a month ahead of schedule, it appears that around 30 million barrels of Iranian crude oil have yet to depart,” the tracking group said.
“However, there are also more than 60 million barrels of floating storage capacity available within the blockade perimeter should Iran be forced to scale back its oil production.”
4 injured in US strike on southwestern Iran
Four people were injured after projectiles fired by US forces struck the southwestern Iranian city of Omidiyeh early Tuesday, a senior provincial official said.
Valiollah Hayati, deputy governor of Iran’s Khuzestan province, said parts of Omidiyeh came under attack at around 2:10 am local time (3:40am PKT Tuesday), according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
“According to initial reports and assessments, four people have been injured in this attack,” Hayati said.
Hostile US vessel
Soon after the US military announced renewed strikes on Iran, Iranian media reported explosions in the port city of Bandar Abbas, Iran’s Kish and Qeshm islands and on Abu Musa Island in the Gulf.
Iran’s Fars news agency said residents in the city of Jam in Iran’s Bushehr province also heard several explosions but that the exact location of the blasts was not clear. No casualties were reported. Iranian media reported explosions for more than three hours.
Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province was hit by US projectiles early on Tuesday, Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported, citing a provincial security official, adding that four people were wounded and rescue operations were underway. A loud explosion was also heard in Iran’s southern city of Bushehr, according to Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency.
Iran’s state TV cited the Iranian army as saying that it targeted a “hostile” US vessel with cruise missiles and US facilities and equipment in Kuwait with drones. Iranian media also said Iran’s Revolutionary Guards shot down a US MQ-1 drone over Hormuz, while sirens sounded early on Tuesday in Bahrain – home to another US military base.
The incidents, which followed earlier exchanges of missile and drone attacks, extended the hostilities that followed Iran’s announcement at the weekend that it was closing the vital waterway, casting further doubt on an interim deal to halt the war and driving oil prices higher.
The UN shipping agency pushed back against Trump’s proposal, saying it opposes any fees for straits used in international navigation and stressing that there is no legal basis for introducing mandatory tolls on strait transits.
Trump has previously suggested the US could charge tolls on shipping through the strait, but has not done so and it remains unclear whether he would follow through this time.
The US Navy-led Joint Maritime Information Centre said the blockade would take effect at 2000 GMT on Tuesday and apply to all vessel traffic regardless of flag, covering the entire Iranian coastline including ports and oil terminals.
It said the measure would not impede neutral transit passage through the strait to or from non-Iranian destinations, and that humanitarian shipments would be permitted subject to inspection.
The US Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the US Consulate General in Dubai have cancelled consular appointments from July 13 to 15 due to the regional security situation, the embassy said in a security alert.
$250 million a day
Before the conflict began in February, around a fifth of the world’s oil and gas traffic passed through Hormuz daily, delivering more than 15 million barrels of fuel to global markets worth at least $1.2 billion. If the US were to impose a 20% fee, it may generate around $240 million a day.
The war, launched by the United States and Israel, has destabilised the Gulf and spread across the region, with Iran attacking US bases in multiple countries. Thousands of people have been killed in the war, mainly in Iran and Lebanon.
Oil prices rose nearly 3% on Tuesday to their highest in four weeks. Brent crude futures were last up $1.90, or 2.3%, to $85.20 per barrel at 0630 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose $1.91, or 2.4%, to $80.05 a barrel.
Both contracts earlier rose more than $2 a barrel before paring some gains, while Brent had surged 9.6% in the previous session, its biggest daily gain since May 2020.
Oil prices are now at their highest since the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding to end the war on June 17.