President Trump\u2019s much-touted cease-fire with Iran effectively collapsed on Monday as he ordered the reinstatement of a naval blockade and announced that he will impose tolls on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, despite his own administration\u2019s position that such fees violate international law.<\/p>\n
Mr. Trump\u2019s actions came shortly after he formally notified Congress that fighting has resumed amid tit-for-tat attacks by both sides in recent days in a war that lawmakers have directed him to end or seek their authorization to continue. U.S. forces conducted a third consecutive night of strikes<\/a> against Iran on Monday, military officials announced.<\/p>\n As the cease-fire that he once hailed dissolved, Mr. Trump dismissed its importance, saying in a radio interview that such agreements \u201cdon\u2019t mean much,\u201d while outlining no new strategy for how to resolve the conflict.<\/p>\n The developments left the president without a clear path forward, given that neither bombs and missiles nor diplomatic negotiations have yielded a palatable outcome. Oil prices surged and stocks fell on news of the naval blockade and shipping tolls, increasing pressure again even as many Republican lawmakers have expressed worry about the economic toll and sought to put the focus back on domestic issues in advance of this fall\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Hormuz Strait is OPEN, and will remain OPEN, with or without Iran,\u201d Mr. Trump wrote on social media. He added: \u201cThe U.S.A. will be, from this point forward, known as \u2018THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT,\u2019 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.\u201d<\/p>\n At a session with reporters later in the day, he justified the decision to charge shippers in much the same way he often talks about relationships with allies that he thinks should pay the United States for its support. \u201cI want to be reimbursed because we\u2019re protecting a very rich portion of the world,\u201d he said, listing longtime U.S. friends like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. \u201cAnd they will do very well.\u201d<\/p>\n The decision to charge shippers flies in the face of the administration\u2019s own stance when Iran threatened to do the same. Even in recent weeks, Mr. Trump\u2019s team has insisted that charging for safe passage in the strait was intolerable. \u201cNo country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway,\u201d Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last month. \u201cThat is a normal that we will never be able to accept,\u201d he said several weeks before that.<\/p>\n Mr. Trump made no effort in his social media post or various interviews on Monday to explain how the new fees differ from the ones that Iran planned to impose, nor did he say how long they would be in effect. The White House did not respond to a request for comment about how the president reconciled his new position with his old position.<\/p>\n Mr. Trump said he would continue to order strikes against Iran, as he has threatened repeatedly over the past week. \u201cWe\u2019re going to hit them very hard tonight, we\u2019re going to hit them hard tomorrow and there\u2019s not a damn thing they can do about it,\u201d he said in an interview with the radio host Hugh Hewitt<\/a> shortly before U.S. Central Command announced the latest strikes. \u201cThey have nothing. They have nothing going other than they have big mouths.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Trump also said that he might bomb Pickaxe Mountain, a fortified site not far from Iran\u2019s Natanz uranium enrichment facility. Although he said \u201cwe see no activity there,\u201d he said that \u201cPickaxe is a possible target for a nice big fat shot right in their front door.\u201d<\/p>\n The U.S. Central Command, which manages military operations in the Middle East, said that it will resume enforcing the naval blockade against vessels transiting to or from Iranian ports and coastal areas at late Tuesday evening local time.<\/p>\n The letter that Mr. Trump sent Congress on Friday, obtained by The New York Times, formally acknowledged that he had resumed the active strikes that administration officials had previously said<\/a> had been suspended. \u201cAt my direction, United States Armed Forces responded, commencing on July 7, 2026, with defensive strikes against targets within Iran including missile launch sites, air defenses, military maritime assets, military support, infrastructure, and command and control capabilities,\u201d he said in the letter. He called the strikes \u201climited\u201d and \u201cmeasured.\u201d<\/p>\n Both chambers of Congress have voted<\/a> for separate resolutions under the War Powers Act directing Mr. Trump to either end the war or seek approval from lawmakers to continue it. But like other presidents before him, Mr. Trump has rejected lawmakers\u2019 interpretation of the law and maintained that he has the authority to conduct military operations without congressional authorization.<\/p>\n In abandoning what it presented as a bedrock principle on free passage in the strait, analysts said that Mr. Trump has eviscerated his own argument that Iran has no right to charge fees and made clear that the real question for shippers was which power forces them to pay.<\/p>\n \u201cTrump undermines whatever legitimacy we could have claimed,\u201d said Robert Kagan, a longtime senior fellow on security issues at the Brookings Institution. \u201cWe were posturing as the defender of a global public good. We ask the Europeans to take huge risks to help us gain control of the strait so we can charge them for it?\u201d<\/p>\n Energy companies were left to forecast what the new reality will mean for them and international players complained that the United States was now doing what it faulted Iran for trying to do. The International Maritime Organization, a U.N. agency, passed a resolution on Monday<\/a> reaffirming that \u201cpassage through the Strait should remain free of any tolls and charges, in accordance with international law.\u201d<\/p>\n For its part, Iran mocked Mr. Trump for his about-face. \u201cPOTUS is absolutely right,\u201d Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister, wrote on social media<\/a>, using the acronym for president of the United States. \u201cWhoever provides secure and safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz should be compensated for this service. Iran has always been the GUARDIAN of the Strait and will remain so FOREVER. 20% is of course too much. We will be fair.\u201d<\/p>\n