Trump says the U.S. is back to blockading Iran and will charge ships a toll in Hormuz

Trump says the U.S. is back to blockading Iran and will charge ships a toll in Hormuz. ISTANBUL — President Trump says that the U.S. will not allow Iranian ships to move through the Strait of Hormuz and will charge a toll on other countries' ship cargo, following a weekend of fighting between the U.S. and Iran. "We are reinstating THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE, so named because it is only stopping Iran's ships or customers from entering or leaving," he said in a post online. Trump said other countries will be able to move through the waterway, but that the U.S. would charge a 20% toll on cargo. He said the toll was reimbursement for doing "the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the World." Until now, the U.S. had said there should not be any tolls or fees on ships moving through the strait. Iranian leaders have been defiant that Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. Central Command said it hit "dozens of targets at multiple locations with precision munitions to degrade Iran's ability to continue attacking international shipping flowing through the Strait of Hormuz." "The Strait of Hormuz is a vital maritime corridor for global trade. Iran does not control it," CENTCOM said in a statement. Kpler, a data and analytics company that tracks global commodity and shipping markets, said that crossings through the Strait of Hormuz have dropped by more than half from the previous week.