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The U.S. is set to reinstate a blockade over the Strait of Hormuz

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+ Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Embedded Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics Trump drops Hormuz ship toll but pushes ahead Iran blockade The U.S.
− set to reinstate blockade over the Strait of Hormuz The U.S.
military announced it will begin its blockade of Iranian ships over the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, as Iran vowed to assert its own control over the critical international waterway. Special Series Middle East conflict Conflict in the Middle East has been escalating. These stories provide context for current developments and the history that led up to them.
− By NPR Staff A ship sails off the coast of Ajman on Friday.
+ By NPR Staff A ship sails off the coast of Ajman, United Arab Emirates, on Friday.
− AFP via Getty Images hide caption The U.S.
+ AFP via Getty Images hide caption President Trump on Tuesday said the United States will not impose fees on ships in exchange for helping them transit the Strait of Hormuz safely, reversing course a day after the surprise announcement that there would be a 20% cargo charge. "Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States," he wrote online.
− military announced it will begin its blockade of Iranian ships over the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, as Iran vowed to assert its own control over the critical international waterway.
+ No further details on the investments have been provided.
− U.S.
+ But Trump said the U.S.
− Central Command said the blockade would begin on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
+ would still reinstate its blockade on Iran as planned. The U.S.
− ET.
+ military said it would begin a blockade of ships entering or exiting Iranian ports at 4 p.m.
− The military last worked to block maritime traffic to and from Iranian ports from April 13 to June 18.
+ ET.
Middle East conflict The U.S.
− strikes Iran after Trump announces a renewed blockade and tolls in Hormuz The announcement came after an intensified exchange of strikes over the weekend, testing a shaky ceasefire and threatening a return to all-out war in the region.
+ strikes Iran after Trump announces a renewed blockade and tolls in Hormuz Trump's change of course comes as the U.S. and Iran have intensified attacks, leaving their ceasefire in tatters and threatening a return to all-out war in the region.
− On Monday, the U.S.
+ Loading... The U.S.
− launched another wave of strikes on Iran.
+ launched another wave of strikes on Iran late Monday and early Tuesday local time.
− The U.S.
+ U.S.
− military said it struck Iranian defense systems, missile and drone sites and maritime capabilities to "degrade Iran's ability to attack commercial shipping." Iran's Revolutionary Guard said Tuesday that it had struck "two non-compliant" supertankers in the Strait of Hormuz, according to a statement in Iranian state media.
+ Central Command said it struck Iranian defense systems, missile and drone sites and maritime capabilities to "degrade Iran's ability to attack commercial shipping." Iran's Revolutionary Guard said Tuesday that it had struck "two non-compliant" supertankers in the Strait of Hormuz, according to a statement in Iranian state media.
Iran also said it launched missiles and drones against U.S. military infrastructure in Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, and U.S. military outposts in Jordan. The United Arab Emirates' Defense Ministry said two of its tankers were targeted by Iranian cruise missiles while transiting the shipping lane of the Strait of Hormuz in Omani waters, killing one person. Bahrain authorities reported that sirens were sounded and urged citizens to head to safe places. Jordanian state media said the country's air defenses intercepted four Iranian missiles early Tuesday as they entered its airspace. The escalation comes as the U.S. and Iran reach a halfway mark in the 60-day ceasefire agreed in June, when the two sides signed a 14-point memorandum of understanding to work out the terms of a final deal and open the Strait of Hormuz. During a NATO summit in Turkey last week, President Trump declared the ceasefire "over," but didn't rule out further talks. Middle East conflict U.S. launches new strikes on Iran and Tehran attacks U.S. allies in the Gulf The truce all but collapsed over the weekend as Iran attacked a commercial vessel moving through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday and the U.S. retaliated with strikes in response. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told a news conference Monday that Iran was in touch with mediators, including Oman, Qatar and Pakistan, saying their role was to de-escalate the situation. But the status of negotiations with the U.S. was not clear.
− Control over the Strait of Hormuz — a key shipping route for oil, gas and other goods — has emerged as the key point of contention between the U.S.
+ Control over the Strait of Hormuz has emerged as the key point of contention between the U.S.
and Iran. The deadlock over the waterway, through which roughly 20% of the world's energy supplies typically move, has disrupted global trade and increased fuel prices around the world.
+ Even before the latest round of strikes, just 22 ships crossed the strait on July 9 — compared to 147 crossings the day before the war began in February, according to Kpler, a firm that tracks global commodities and shipping.
Mourners wave the Iranian flag on top of a building during the funeral procession for Iran's slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and members of his family before he is buried at the Shrine of Imam Reza, Iran's most revered place of worship, in Mashhad on Thursday.
− Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images hide caption This latest wave of strikes from both sides is already having an impact in traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
+ Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images hide caption Washington sees the Strait of Hormuz as an international waterway, but after the U.S.
− Kpler, a data and analytics company that tracks global commodity and shipping markets, said daily crossings over the past weekend were down by 52% from the week before. The Strait of Hormuz is considered an international waterway, but since the start of the war on Feb.
+ and Israel launched their war on Iran on Feb.
− 28, Tehran has claimed it's in control and has insisted ships get permission and follow approved routes.
+ 28, Tehran has asserted its control over the strait and has insisted ships get permission and follow approved routes.
− Iran has been attacking ships if they did not comply with its orders.
+ Iran has been attacking ships if they did not comply with its orders and at times has announced the strait was closed.
Trump pushed back on Monday and said the United States would not allow Iranian ships to move through the strait. "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 the U.S.
+ CENTCOM said mariners approaching the Gulf of Oman and Strait of Hormuz should "contact U.S.
− will charge a 20% toll on cargo as reimbursement for the U.S.
+ naval forces on bridge-to-bridge channel 16." It said, "Additional information will be provided to commercial mariners through a formal notice." The U.S.
− doing "the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the World." The U.S. will be known as "THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT," he wrote.
+ will be known as "THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT," Trump wrote online.
− Until now, the U.S.
+ He also said the U.S.
+ would charge other countries' ships a 20% cargo fee as reimbursement for the U.S. doing "the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the World." Until that point, the U.S.
had said there should not be any tolls or fees on shipping through the strait. In June, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, "No country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway.
− That's existing international law." CENTCOM did not mention fees but said mariners approaching the Gulf of Oman and Strait of Hormuz should "contact U.S.
+ That's existing international law." On Tuesday, Trump said he changed his mind after feedback from Gulf Arab countries. "So I put it out yesterday.
− naval forces on bridge-to-bridge channel 16." It said, "Additional information will be provided to commercial mariners through a formal notice." Iran's foreign minister responded to Trump's announcement, saying he was correct to note that providing safe passage should be compensated.
+ I thought it was good.
− But he wrote on social media, "Iran has always been the GUARDIAN of the Strait and will remain so FOREVER." Araghchi then appeared to haggle with Trump: "20% is of course too much.
+ I was called by different people, different countries, kings and emirs, and all of the people that we all know, and we all love, and they've been frankly, they've been very strong partners.
− We will be fair," he wrote.
+ And they said we'd love to do it a different way," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
− Iranian leaders have been defiant that Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz, despite the Trump administration's claims.
+ "You have Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait, and you know primarily, and then others. They, I spoke to all of them, and they would love to invest more money in the United States at record amounts, and that would be very acceptable," he said. "And this way, there's no fee." Critics of the interim deal signed last month between Iran and the United States blame the lack of details in the agreement for the confusion over the management of the strait that led to renewed fighting.
− Critics of the interim deal signed last month between Iran and the United States blame the lack of details in the agreement for the confusion over the management of the strait that led to renewed fighting.
Middle East conflict What you need to know about the preliminary U.S.-Iran agreement signed by Trump Michael Singh, a Mideast specialist and the managing director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, says that one such example is Paragraph 5 of the memorandum of understanding, which stipulates that Iran would make arrangements using its "best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vehicles." Singh says the Trump administration and Iranian leaders differ in their interpretation of that commitment, with Iran considering it controls the strait. "Here, I think the wording, you know, hews much more to what Iran wanted to get out of that understanding because it seems to place responsibility for the straits in Iran's hands rather than reinforcing that this is an international waterway," Singh adds. Prior to its announcement of the reinstatement of its blockade of Iranian ships over the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. had urged ships to use a southern route that hugs the coast of Oman. Iran said this violated the memorandum of understanding. Iran's Parliament speaker and negotiator with the U.S., Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, posted an image of the preliminary deal on social media, highlighting the section of Point 5 that says "Iran will make arrangements." He wrote: "The era of one-sided deals is OVER." The U.S. has also accused Iran of breaching the memorandum.
+ "What was supposed to be a bridge from war to diplomacy has instead become another battlefield, with both sides using force to try to impose their own reading of the agreement's ambiguous terms," the International Crisis Group, a think tank that advocates to prevent war, said in a newsletter on the issue Tuesday.
The foreign minister of Qatar — a mediator in the conflict — had said ceasefire talks would continue after the multiday funeral last week for Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
− The ayatollah was killed in U.S.-Israeli airstrikes at the start of the war in late February.
+ The ayatollah was killed in U.S.-Israeli airstrikes at the start of the war.
− NPR's Jackie Northam and Hadeel Al-Shalchi in Istanbul contributed reporting.
+ Current Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued a statement on Saturday, through state media, vowing to avenge the death of his father and other Iranian officials killed by the U.S. and Israel.
+ NPR's Jackie Northam, Hadeel Al-Shalchi and Deepa Shivaram contributed reporting.
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