On Monday, President Trump floated the idea of charging a 20 percent fee on all cargo shipped through the Strait of Hormuz to “reimburse” the U.S. for security provided to the region, currently and in the past.
Was it a negotiating tactic? You never know with the president. On Tuesday, he abandoned the notion in a Truth Social post, saying we’d replace it with trade and investment deals with "various Gulf States."
NEW: President Trump says he will replace the 20% "Reimbursement Fee" in the Strait of Hormuz with trade and investment deals that "various Gulf States" will be making into the U.S., after "highly productive" conversations with Middle East leadership.
— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 14, 2026
"The Strait of Hormuz is… pic.twitter.com/qSVNHgIV64
NEW: President Trump says he will replace the 20% "Reimbursement Fee" in the Strait of Hormuz with trade and investment deals that "various Gulf States" will be making into the U.S., after "highly productive" conversations with Middle East leadership.
He also reiterated that we will enforce a blockade of Iranian ports starting at 4 p.m. ET.
"The Strait of Hormuz is open to ALL Ship traffic except for Iran — and that is because of their lying, violent, malicious leadership, which is taking them down the path of TOTAL DESTRUCTION. We will therefore have a FULL Blockade, but only on Ships coming to and from Iranian ports, or carrying anything have to do with Iranian cargo."
He went on to say that the investments will be good for them and good for America:
"Those Investments will be MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future." As everyone is aware, we have the largest Dollar Investment into the United States, of any Country in History, but these new Investments will make that Number even larger, and we will see Factories, Plants, and Equipment pour into the United States at Historic levels, which will create additional millions of High Paying AMERICAN Jobs!
The days of Iran killing hundreds of thousands of people, including 52,000 protestors, are OVER and, most importantly, IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!
Trump said he received calls from regional leaders after threatening the fees, and they told him they’d rather do it another way: with their bank accounts.
President Trump explains why he changed course on the Strait of Hormuz:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 14, 2026
"It was never fair to me that we would be guarding the Strait, when we basically don’t need the oil at all [...] It was important for allies, it was important for people that we get along with very well,… pic.twitter.com/sK7xmaTVf8
President Trump explains why he changed course on the Strait of Hormuz:
"It was never fair to me that we would be guarding the Strait, when we basically don’t need the oil at all [...] It was important for allies, it was important for people that we get along with very well, including the major Gulf state countries [...]
The Gulf states are going to invest a tremendous amount of money into the United States, and that was very satisfactory to me. I think it’s actually much better."
Plot Twist! President Trump Declares Blockade of Iran Is Back on and That the US Controls Hormuz
Trump also met with new Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi in the Oval Office and said the country will do much better now that we’ve "very much destabilized“ Iran and “taken away almost all of their military capability.” Oil is going to flow in the oft-troubled Middle Eastern nation, he said:
NOW: President Trump welcomes the Prime Minister of Iraq Ali al-Zaidi to the White House.
— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 14, 2026
"He's been a great fighter and he's been a great fan of America... They have tremendous oil reserves... They have tremendous wealth."
"They have a great leader, the new prime minister.… pic.twitter.com/mwmKGGXOju
NOW: President Trump welcomes the Prime Minister of Iraq Ali al-Zaidi to the White House.
"He's been a great fighter and he's been a great fan of America... They have tremendous oil reserves... They have tremendous wealth."
"They have a great leader, the new prime minister. He's a great leader. I think he's going to be there for a long period of time... He's young and he's handsome, which I don't like. I'm not happy about it."
Al-Zaidi is a businessman and political outsider who took office in May and has focused on disarming militias and strengthening the rule of law.
The news coming out of the Middle East changes seemingly by the hour. Keep it here at RedState for the latest developments.
Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
Help us report the truth about the Trump administration's decisive actions to keep Americans safe and bring peace to the world. Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member