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President Trump announced on Tuesday that he would scrap his proposal yesterday for a 20 percent tolling fee on cargo transiting the Strait of Hormuz, and would instead pursue trade and investment deals with Gulf states.
Trump made the pitch a day ago as part of efforts to unlock commercial shipping through the crucial 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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“Those Investments will be MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future.”
Trump said the change in thinking came after “highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership.”
The president claimed in the post that “oil is flowing like never before” in the region and declared the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas flow through, is open to all shipping traffic besides Iran’s, praising the work of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine and U.S. Central Command Adm. Brad Cooper.
“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,” Trump said, previewing the blockade, which he first announced Monday morning, which is set to take effect at 4 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, according to Centcom.
The removal of the tolls came less than 24 hours after the U.S. military launched a fresh round of strikes against Iran, hitting targets in Bushehr, Chah Bahar, Jask, Konarak, Abu Musa and Bandar Abbas.
The barrage of attacks came after the U.S. forces conducted four rounds of strikes last week in what U.S. officials described as retaliation for Iran targeting cargo ships attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz.
The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Defense said Monday that Iran’s forces targeted a pair of its tankers in the strait with cruise missiles.
This story was updated at 11:48 a.m.
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