US President Donald Trump speaks during a Rose Garden Club event in the Rose Garden of the White House on July 6, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | getty images
President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States will “pay for the security” of the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil-shipping route and center of a resurgent war with Iran.
“We will keep the tension up and we will probably run it,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News. The interview comes amid new confrontation between the US and Iran, further removing the possibility of a peace deal.
Oil prices rose on Monday morning, while stock indices fell.
“We will be the guardian of the strait – maybe we’ll call it the guardian angel of the strait,” Trump told Fox. “And we should be reimbursed for that.”
“We cannot be expected to do this for nothing, as we have been doing for many years,” he said. “We protected it for nothing, and now we’re going to protect it, we’ll get paid to protect it. A lot of money.”
The president expressed interest in levying protection funds in the strait as Washington and Tehran both claim de facto control over the international waterway, where 20% of the world’s oil trade was blocked before the war began in late February.
Since the conflict began, Iran has signaled plans to charge tolls or other fees for ships passing through the waterway – a scenario the US has rejected.
The temporary ceasefire agreement signed by the US and Iran in mid-June explicitly barred Tehran from imposing any duties on commercial ships passing through the strait.
But repeated attacks in the region have weakened the deal so much that Trump last week declared the ceasefire “over.”
This is developing news. Please check back for updates.