US plans 20% toll on Strait of Hormuz shipping; experts call it 'piracy'
President Donald Trump announced the US will reinstate a naval blockade of Iran and charge a 20% toll on all cargo transiting the Strait of Hormuz, a move criticized by experts and international bodies as violating international law.
US President Donald Trump on Monday announced plans to reinstate a naval blockade of Iran and become the 'guardian' of the Strait of Hormuz, charging a 20% toll on all cargo shipped through the strategic waterway. Speaking to Fox News and on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the blockade would begin at 20:00 GMT on Tuesday, according to the US Navy-led Joint Maritime Information Center.
'The process and formation will begin immediately,' Trump stated. However, experts question the feasibility. Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer at King's College London, told Al Jazeera the proposal appears 'more like an improvised political remark than a developed policy.' He noted that Washington lacks a legal mechanism to impose charges on international shipping and does not physically control the strait.
Krieg added that introducing a US toll would inadvertently validate Iran's argument that passage through Hormuz can be monetized, weakening Washington's legal and political position. 'Markets dislike uncertainty far more than they dislike predictable costs,' he said.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) strongly opposed the fee. 'Countries do not have the right to introduce tolls or payments on these straits,' said IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called the plan 'piracy.'
The announcement follows a week of renewed US-Iran hostilities, including US strikes on Iran and retaliatory attacks by Iran's Revolutionary Guard on US assets. Krieg warned that such improvised proposals make it harder to persuade Iran to de-escalate its assertive posture in the strait.
