Trump Gives Up Plan To Charge For Hormuz Strait Passage. Oil Is Giving Up Gains
Oil is giving up gains after President Donald Trump said he would scrap the plan to charge for passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
“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,” Trump said in a social media post.
He went on to say the 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! America is WINNING again, winning like never before. 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 added.
Brent crude, the international benchmark rose less than 1% in the session and stood around $84 a barrel at 11:30 a.m. ET. It had hit almost $87 a barrel earlier on Tuesday. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, climbed a little more than 1% and was trading below $80 a barrel at the same time.
Even though Trump ceded on the toll for passage through the key waterway, he has stepped up threats against Tehran. He said that the U.S. will “take out” Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain, which houses compounds believed to be able to resist the country’s most powerful bunker buster bombs.
Speaking on the Hugh Hewitt Show, Trump said that Iranians should be “ready” for an attack against the compound.
“We see no activity there. They’re not doing well with their nuclear situation. Every time we hear about it, we blow it up. So they don’t like talking about it. But we’ll probably give Pickaxe a shot relatively soon,” Trump claimed.
Reuters detailed that the compound is located near Natanz, Iran’s nuclear facility that has been heavily damaged by U.S. bombings from the 2025 war. It hosts two tunnel complexes experts believe can’t be reached by the U.S.’s most powerful bunker buster bombs.
Trump formally notified Congress that “military action” against Iran restarted last week, CBS News detailed. A letter says strikes are “limited, measured, planned, and executed in a manner designed to minimize civilian casualties.” The goal is to target Iranian military sites posing a threat to U.S. forces and commercial shipping.
