Instead of paying Iran $1 million per ship, Trump wants 20 percent of cargo.
Guardian of the Strait
The Hormuz Strait is OPEN, and will remain OPEN, with or without Iran. We are reinstating the THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE, so named because it is only stopping Iran’s ships or customers from entering or leaving. All other countries will have fair and open use of the Strait. The U.S.A. 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, for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the World. The process and formation will begin immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP
Jul 13, 2026, 8:16 AM
Average Fee Under Trump vs Iran
- The EIA says the average tanker carries around $150–180 million in oil. That would make the US Guardian Fee $30 million to $36 million.
- Iran wants to collect $1 to $2 million.
The Guardian Reimposes a Blockade with Fees
The Wall Street Journal reports Trump Says He Is Reimposing the U.S. Blockade of Iran
Trump asserted that the strait remains open under American protection and said the U.S. would charge 20% of every cargo as compensation for its costs. He didn’t detail how that would work but said procedures would be formulated immediately.
“The U.S.A. will be, from this point forward, known as ‘THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT,’” the president said.
Data firm Kpler, which tracks ships via satellite imagery and other data, said confirmed traffic through the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend fell by more than half from the previous weekend, to just 19, similar to levels that prevailed before the preliminary peace deal was signed. Most ships used the channel approved by Iran or clandestine routes, while traffic through the corridor near Oman backed by the U.S. dried up, Kpler said.
Analysts say taking over Hormuz militarily would require a substantial ground invasion or a risky naval operation. Trump so far has decided against that route, which risks high U.S. casualties.
Trump’s memorandum of understanding with Iran was aimed at opening the Strait of Hormuz diplomatically to ease pressure on the global economy. It initially pushed oil prices down sharply, but also set off a test of wills that has escalated into regular exchanges of fire.
The root of the dispute is Paragraph 5, which says Iran will make arrangements to restore shipping through the strategic waterway and then work with Oman to determine how to administer it in the future. But it also includes an Iranian pledge to ensure safe passage and remove military obstacles such as mines.
Reflections on Fees
In the Fox News Video Trump says the US will become the “Guardian Angel of the Strait” and “We should be reimbursed for that.”
“The other nations are very wealthy and are on our side. We can’t be expected to do that for nothing.”
“We guarded the strait for 50 years and never got paid for it.”
How Many Countries Would Pay the US 20 Percent?
I believe none.
Instead, assume they all will. The price of oil at the pump would immediately go up by 20 percent.
Trump’s fee proposal will soon provoke international outrage.
We have gone from no fees to a $1 million fee to 20 percent cargo fee by the US that amounts to $30 million to $36 million.
Iran is laughing.
I would say that Trump has lost his mind, but that happened long ago.
Looking Ahead Three Things
- The price of oil has bottomed.
- Republicans will be hard pressed to pass any additional legislation.
- Gas prices heading back up won’t help Republican chances at the midterms.
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The price of oil WILL NOT immediately increase by 20%. Not all oil travels through Hormuz.
He’s changed his mind yet again, but I wouldn’t count on it; he could change it again tomorrow. …. https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116918941071241802
As I said in Comment #1 to this post (scroll down to the very bottom), Taco Tuesday has arrived. Trump is abandoning the 20% toll!
Yes; you nailed it 100%. Bravo!
In fairness, I deserve absolutely no credit for pointing out that Trump would do something so obvious to anyone paying attention
miss lindsay 2028, dead or alive
LOL
Trump reinforces
What a loser
Like the man who instead of impressing you with how high he can jump is pretending he’s not coming down anymore
Another interpretation would be that he is simply following orders.
There is a plan: It’s too constrict energy and trade flows globally, with the thought that when everything crashes, the US will be the most resilient party amidst global catastrophe.
In any case, and also most likely the main reason for this outrageous, crazy demand:The US is running out of cash. Same thing destroyed the Roman empire – lack of funding for their eternal wars. From Alex Krainer’s substack:
“As it turns out, US Defense Department appears to be rapidly running out of cash while the costs of war are mounting relentlessly. The DOD received a base discretionary budget of roughly $839 billion for this year, but its officials warned Congress that the Pentagon is running out of cash, obliging them to request a supplemental infusion of more than $67 billion to cover shortfalls until the next budget cycle.”
I blame those that voted for him.
I blame the boomers too.
i blame the framers of usa. those blokes wanted another evil empire from day 1. boomers and beyond are just more of the same. the kids seem just as nihilist. make money. only thing that matters in those empty lives of nihilism.
I blame Democrats for fielding such awful candidates. I would have voted for Senator Manchin, but no, the DNC wanted a hard lurch left instead of preventing a Republican from winning.
The choices were stupid or crazy. So I guess you picked crazy? Well that was stupid!
You have to play the hand you are dealt and make the best choice. The best choice out of a field of losers was obviously not Trump.
Why? Only one of three Choices to make.
1. Trump (who else?)
2. Biden (No) or Kamala (No)
3. Don’t Vote (?) (I must)
Great I got a picture perfect reply from just the kind of dumb asshole responsible for this. Completely without any self awareness, it’s repulsive frankly
Basically this moron voted for a geriatric conman and rapist and still defends it
20%?! You mean, TWENTY PERCENT??!! Wow!
Iran’s $1/barrel (effectively about 1.25% to 1.5%) is looking like a much better deal now!
He is endangering the security of the US.
Yeah just deposit that into my crypto acct ( says trump)
Ansarallah launched missiles at the Saudis as a retaliation. Doesn’t look good if they decide that the East-West pipeline is a juicy target. An extra six million barrels off the markets
https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthis-airport-saudi-strikes-7bddae3006304df8bf7f89e980006b33
That was impressive, although that was Sanaa in Saudi controlled South Yemen. Will become interesting if it extends to Saudi Arabia proper.
brilliant and hilarious…
Iran calls Trump’s 20% extortionate and says Iran’s million or two fee is reasonable and just
Fees are now normalized !!
Iran is more rational than dear old US
I’m taking over the Strait and my fee will only be 18%.
Iran’s fee is $1/barrel. That is just 1.25% extra at today’s oil prices. 20% is highway – I mean, high seas – robbery!
Trump has an uncanny knack to top a stupid move with an even more stupid move; the world in the end will have to clean up his stupidity cascades.
Everyone thought it would be fun to have a crazy racist boomer uncle running the country, well, they ain’t laughing now. You elect filth you get filth.
correction. if you are filth, you elect filth. democracy works. biden for genocide or trump for insanity……….democracy works. time for all amerikans to look in the mirror. i vote green or libertarian at federal level.
He’s a total moron, its occums razor
US inventory Estimates for the week ended July 10 (final data on Wed).
Commercial inventories down 3.1 mb. SPR down 3 mb to 316.5 mb. SPR draws slowing as we approach lower levels.
Crack spreads remain at historic highs. A barrel of diesel in NY is $130-$140.
Russia has lost 2 mb of refining capacity due to Ukrainian strikes and has banned diesel exports.
On the other hand, China is allowing their teapot refiners to export again, so they will soak up most of the available barrels on water that exited the gulf recently.
With a new US blockade (and 20% fees) Persian Gulf shipping should stall and gulf oil production should fall short by 8-10 mbpd again.
Still waiting to see if the price spike expected by oil execs in July plays out.
Oh. And Yemen and Saudi just started attacking each other today after four years of peace. What a shit show! The Bab el Mandeb could end up being closed soon.
Good thing I’m positioned for a cruel summer and awesome profits.
It’s rarely this easy. Hard to understand what Trump is thinking. But I will continue to take advantage of the situation.
Guy is delusional. The 25th!
Just like you, doubtless, I woke up this morning thinking, wow, my life could use a nice dollop of more madness.
On our dime, in our name.
Don’t bother to ask any representative group of the American people. Only boring losers do that.
So, another regressive tax falls on those least positioned to absorb the shock. That is the Trump standard. And more inflation, of course.
So glad he cleared $600 million plus on $Trump coin. At least the MAGA suckers can help assuage some of his bottomless greed and hubris, and momentarily distract him. Too bad it ratchets up from any new situation, to even more ludicrous and ghastly levels.
Fing clown show
what’s next, demand $100B from every country that can afford it or we nuke them?
Too soon. Crazy shit now. Bat shit crazy still to come.
The show must go on: you can’t just jump to the Finale…
Are you not entertained?
“No country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway. That’s existing international law”
-US Secretary of State Lil’ Marco Rubio 7/2/26
It’s not international waters
You’re right! It’s Oman’s waters!
it’s still an international waterway, they are different things
President Donald Trump made a cryptic announcement on Monday about an upcoming speech to the nation later this week.
Trump revealed the news on his Truth Social platform.
“President Trump will be making a Speech to the Nation on Thursday evening, at 9 P.M. Eastern. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
so odd he referenced himself as “president trump”, not “I” or even the royal “We”. It’s like someone else made the post and effed it up
serious question. Will CENTCOM set some online payment system for that 20% down or that is going to be collected into Jared/Barron account directly?
Are they going to buy and use Iranian drones to hit ships not willing to give 20% pre-paid fees or use old school warship cannons? If drones best place would be to establish base in Oman so drones can hit with max efficiency plus range factor.
This is such level of retardation hard to even describe it. USA is such a laughing stock in the world now, don’t tell anybody abroad you are American. They will assume you are imbecile.
This is just insane. It will never work and will piss-off the entire world. Trump’s megalomania and delusional thinking gets worse by the day. 25th Amendment time! One can understand why Trump appointed such sniveling sycophants to his cabinet. none will have the fortitude to step up and say the emperor has no clothes.
It is not intended to work. It is intended to furnish a flimsy pretext for war.
Flimsy pretext for war against the world?
Well, many haven’t noticed, that is e x a c t l y what has been going on since Warp speed days. World population reduction on a massive scale through toxic gene injections, an odd little war here and there and the survivors of the planned economic collapse in a digital prison. It’s called NWO and Zion Don’s the current front man until his successor plays the next act
To continue the War On Iran.
Angry mobs are supposed to take to the streets some time before midterms…
so Trump can declare martial law and maintain an ass kissing majority.
Starting to wonder if it will ever happen, but I’m not too concerned:
Trump is on a roll thinking of increasing bizarre & stupid shit.
From a purely economics standpoint, the cost of the US military acting as a crossing guard in Hormuz will not be covered by the amount charged, let alone collect
But hey, your sons and daughters will be happy to live, fight and die for that committment, right?
Considering the dollar may finally collapse, sons and daughters may have to do a Barbarossa style grab for resources, because we sure forgot what “trade” is about. This is all so needless.
Aspiring to Regional Domination, Iran Is Ready to Escalate Over HormuzTehran sees itself as a winner in the war that would establish a new Pax Iranica in the Middle East
https://archive.ph/20260711235557/https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/https-www-wsj-com-world-middle-east-iran-deal-strait-of-hormuz-b027c30f-580ee99f
So can we toss coins to determine who has the bigger lunacy here? A three-sided coin maybe, to include Bibi? Might Europe, South America and Africa finally decide more decisively that China represents a lesser evil? They do have cool EVs, solar and robots.
Sad situation. This will easily explode into a full out regional war. Rumor has it the Houthis hit a tanker in the Red Sea. Unconfirmed as of yet. You can bet they will close access and the supertankers can’t fit thru the Suez. What a fucking mess. Time for oil options again.
Congratulations to Trump for making fees a legitimate practice and becoming the bad guy of those fees all in one single post! Seriously, is he being hypnotized by Iran or something?
Trump is a grifter. He has always been a grifter.
Apparently not a good one.
Lucky for him he was born to wealth. Failure is impossible.
Tell that to his dad, who kicked his ass to the curb for being a fuckup in his eyes. Fred Trump was the kind of monster that makes Epstein look normal.
Don’s big bro struggled with demolishing communities for the family. He became an alky and died young. Don stepped up, the perfectly honed sociopath. He just needed a nudge further from Roy Cohn.
most sociopaths are developed by age 2 to 5. trump family bred them like prized pigs at the county fair of queens, nyc, my birthplace.
Over 300+ trades to take advantage of oil moves and tariffs! Makes the Biden grifters look like amateurs.
He thinks he can steal the tolls we’d collect.
So much for “You broke it you fix it!”
To Europe, et al, this is “You broke it you want us to pay to fix it”.
F him. Friggin nuts
“Life is tragedy for those who feel, and comedy for those who think.”
Since it was a Fox News piece, it looks like they are now totally handling Trumps affairs.
Writing the script for Trump was not enough ~ now Faux creates their own AI statements of US policy ~ on behalf of Israel.
Unfortunately the US taxpayers are on the hook and no other journalists are fighting back at the other networks.
We have the best government and news agencies money can buy!
Nothing will change until US citizens start fighting back.
Join Luigi’s army.
Regime has total AI panopticon, can decap any network. That was from allowing total corporate device installation in lives. So I foresee utterly random, spontaneous human kamikaze drones. Enough randomly distributed individuals perceiving their lives as irrevocably broken, will catalyze it. Like a pond suddenly having a state change, curdling.
Trump will also require them to buy their glassware and laundry services from the US. This is necessary to prevent a major fire in the kitchen. A representative will stop by weekly to collect the envelope.
In the kitchen? You mean to prevent fires on board and in the JF-35
‘THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT” = THE POLICEMAN OF THE WORLD
Core Republican values. That is to say, amorality.
The whole world now nods in agreement with Iran: the US are the great satan.
Team D is no better, although they tend to cloak their crimes in touching and entirely hypocritical human rights talk.
They have a special love for unsupervised children…
Trump is totally insane at this point. Congress needs to stop this nonsense.
wake up – T’s skilled in saying things that cause others to flip out
you’re being played
The only people that were played are his voters.
He is attacking Iranian oil and other infrastructure. Iran has teeth and they can easily flatten our economy. It’s a really stupid thing to say because it further erodes support
Yes that’s a part of it, he loves playing with people and says stuff just to irritate and laughs when people take him seriously.
It’s all about getting attention. He’s pathetic in his need for it.
Democrats don’t want to stop any of this until after Midterms. Until then it’s only helping their cause to be elected.
The republicans have the white house and a majority in both houses of Parliament. Democrats cannot stop any of this, whether they want to or not. Stopping it is up to those that caused the mess; Republicans
I believe that the institution is called “Congress” not “Parliament”.
All members of the House of Representatives are up for election this November, as are around 1/3 of all Senators. Team R is expected to lose control of the House and possibly the Senate.
I stand corrected on the terminology. And I understand the expectations for the elections, however my point was that for now it is pointless to highlight what democrats might want when the republicans have absolute power.
You forgot to add the US Supreme Court to the above list
Only the 3 libs on SCOTUS go against Trump more than half the time. Roberts goes with him about 60%. The remaining 5 go with Trump more, topped by Thomas about 87% and Alito 89%. Alito lately seems even higher.
This means even with a Dem Prez and crushing majority in Congress (like USA circa 1933), we are looking at a long time resembling the 1920s and early-mid 1930s in the Supreme court. Trump will in that sense live on.
Why announce anything, when silence would suffice…
Because dementia.
So let’s look at Trump as being in the pockets of Israel and the American oil industry. If so, then this gives the US oil exporters a lower cost basis than competitors and higher overall profits. Plus it weakens Israels Arab neighbors making it easier for Israel to roll-up Christians and Muslims in the region. What’s not to like?
If this was actually seriously implemented then pipelines (and roadways for items that can’t go in a pipe) to bypass the strait would be built at warp speed.
Bombs break those too!
The King has no clothes. He’s lost his marbles. I’m shocked that no one in government isn’t stating this. Just shows the Uniparty (Demoncrats and Republidumbs) are just as nuts as him.
We need term limits, more lobbyist restrictions and AIPAC declared a terrorist organization. This is just to start. We are on the road to ruin. Especially with the debt clock racing forward, wasteful spending and these Empire warmongering maniacs in charge.
Age limits will cure that problem, and the age issue all at once.
Age 70-75 range (turning)
Now there’s a smart idea Stu. We’d actually have half of Congress not mysteriously missing either!
This reminds me of a conversation I had with my young son when Scalia died, I was explaining that we now have 4 liberals and 4 conservatives and no obvious tiebreaker. He thought for a minute and told me that another one needed to die. I knew I had a winner on my hands after that.
You’re being played and just dont know it
They do say it… in the hallway before they all troop in to take turns kissing his ass.
Another amazing and excellent post….that makes the case for a good exit strategy.
Keep em coming Mish. Give the people the hard truth they need to read and understand because no one else on the net is doing it.
Andy yes, my tagline predicted all this nonsense.
Do worry, Trump, Walrus & GOP will find a way to make things even worse.™
you think Mish is only site on intertubes pointing out all this madness? bwaaaahhhhhhh.
Why not return control of the Strait of Hormuz to Iran? The rest of the world would gladly pay Iran a $1-per-barrel transit fee instead of the 20% you’re asking for.
After all, if this is really about business, Iran is offering the better deal.
This is not about business.
It is about trying to save face after losing a war that should never have been started.
Nothing left to save …. Soon enough, we’ll all be thankful to Iran for triggering the downfall of Trump and Trumpism.
This isn’t merely the downfall of Trump, this is the downfall of the US and its empire.
As I correctly predicted literally on day 1 of Operation Epstein Fury: this is going to be the USA’s FAFO moment.
The EU+UK’s FAFO moment is instead the Ukraine project, started by the Anglo-Americans and now enthusiastically in European hands (Hegseth’s “division of labor”…).
It is remarkable to watch a system going stark raving insane. Other systems that did so were more straight-faced. Ours for the first time in history, has a ludicrous tinge of reality TV.
The US is descending into a real, true, literal idiocracy…
The Autopen administration has been astonishing (and the cackling retard designated successor was very “promising” as well) but Trump is topping that. It’s actually scary.
This is not about business. This is a protection racket.
Nothing more.
There is also the issue of Iran having the LEGAL right to ask for a fee and the American high-seas pirates NOT having it…
Legal? Legal got left behind 20 years ago.
Legality, in international relations, has NEVER counted for shit. I was pointing that out just to stress even further that MORALLY Iran is in the right and the Iranians are the good guys.
This is typical Trump: Apply a high level of pain to get negotiations started, and then back off.
LOL! And it’s worked so well with Iran thus far!
In this case he’s attempting to shake down everyone else, not Iran.
Does the negotiatior normally apply that pain to himself?
That’s a lot of words to say TACO.
What an ass!
Captain Orange Shitgibbon, the Lying Lard-Arsed Grifter of Mar-a-Lago
Pepe Escobar a well regarded independent journalist calls him Baboon of Barbaria.
Others call him a Malignant Narcissist. They all fit. God Helps Us from the AntiChrist, he fits the bill to a T!)
Trump’s obvious fear and desperation has risen to new heights.
Hungry? Tasty Taco Tuesday coming!