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Trump: Iran ‘better not be’ charging tolls in Strait of Hormuz

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by Sarah Davis - 04/10/26 7:46 AM ET

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by Sarah Davis - 04/10/26 7:46 AM ET

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President Trump condemned Iran’s plans to charge oil-carrying vessels a fee to traverse the Strait of Hormuz, a day after he proposed a “joint venture” to add similar tolls.

“There are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Hormuz Strait — They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now!” Trump posted Thursday on Truth Social.

Under the tolling program, Iran said it will charge the cryptocurrency equivalent of $1 for each barrel of oil on board. Retired Gen. David Petraeus, the former commander of U.S. Central Command, said earlier Thursday that some companies have reportedly paid $200 million per vessel.

When asked by ABC News on Wednesday for his reaction, Trump said the U.S. was “thinking of doing it as a joint venture.”

“It’s a way of securing it — also securing it from lots of other people,” Trump told ABC, adding, “It’s a beautiful thing.”

In a later post on Thursday, the president accused Iran of “doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz.”

“That is not the agreement we have!” he added, in reference to the temporary ceasefire deal reached between the U.S. and Tehran earlier this week.

The Strait of Hormuz is a major trading corridor in the global economy, carrying around a fifth of the world’s oil consumption on a daily basis. Iranian counterstrikes against U.S. targets and energy infrastructure in the Gulf region have effectively closed the strait, sending global energy prices skyrocketing.

On Tuesday evening, the president announced a two-week halt to the U.S. military strikes in the region. The ceasefire agreement has proven shaky, amid Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Iranian attacks on the Gulf states.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday authorized direct negotiations with Lebanon, but he stressed that there was no peace deal between the two countries, which have been at war since 1948.

U.S. officials, including Vice President Vance and special envoy Steve Witkoff, are also set to meet with Iranian officials in Islamabad over the weekend for high-stakes talks mediated by Pakistan.

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