President Trump changed course Tuesday. He dropped his plan for a 20% toll on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. In its place, he wants Gulf states to invest directly in America.
He explained the shift on Truth Social. The talks with Middle East leaders, he wrote, had been “highly productive.” The investments to come, he said, would be “MASSIVE” — good for the US, and good for the Gulf states too.
Trump credited recent American airstrikes on Iran for a surge in oil exports. Crude is moving, he said, “like never before.” The Strait itself is open to all shipping now, he added — all except Iran. He put the blame squarely on Tehran’s leadership, calling it “lying” and “violent,” and said the regime was steering itself toward “TOTAL DESTRUCTION.”
There will still be a blockade, Trump said. But a narrow one. Only ships heading to or from Iranian ports, or carrying Iranian cargo, will be turned away.
The toll idea was new as of Monday. Trump had floated it as a way to make the US the “guardian” of the Strait — maybe even a “guardian angel,” he joked on “Fox & Friends” — collecting a 20% reimbursement on cargo value passing through. One shipping analyst estimated it could bring in $200 billion a year.
Monday was also the third straight night of US airstrikes on Iran. Trump ordered the latest wave himself, and spoke to reporters in the Oval Office right after Central Command confirmed the strikes.
“We’re hitting them very heavy tonight, as you know,” he said. “We have tremendous amounts of ammunition. We have numbers that we haven’t had in years, and we’re hitting them very hard, and it’ll continue, and we’ll see what happens. But we’re knocking out all of their offensive capability, and we’re controlling the straits.”
U.S. Central Command opened offensive strikes on Iran’s drone and missile sites on July 7, after Tehran attacked commercial vessels trying to pass through the Strait. The bombing has only intensified since.
Read Trump’s full TRUTH Social post below:
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 14, 2026
