Trump Pulls Abrupt 180 on Strait of Hormuz After Iran Humiliates Him

Rather than provide steady, articulate leadership and communication during his Iran war, the commander in chief has embraced bluster and erratic flip-flopping. The latest example of this came Tuesday, when President Donald Trump adopted a stance on the Strait of Hormuz diametrically opposed to the one he had announced the day before.

On Monday, Trump decided that the United States would seize control of the strait. “We’ll become the guardian of the strait,” he told Fox News. “Now we’re gonna guard it, and we’re gonna get paid for guarding it. A lot of money. But we just want to be reimbursed.” In a Truth Social post, he said a 20 percent toll would be imposed on “all cargo shipped” through the strait.

It was a stark reversal of the administration’s previous stance; Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance had stated unequivocally that no country would impose such a toll.

Then the sun set and rose again, and Trump had yet another 180-degree change of heart.

Tuesday, Trump declared that there would be no toll after all. Instead, he said vaguely in a Truth Social post that the U.S. would pursue “Trade and Investment Deals” with Gulf states. Shortly thereafter, he confirmed this new approach during a press conference. “I don’t think anybody should be able to charge a fee for the strait,” the president said, “or for any other strait relationship in terms of other sections of the world. I don’t think anybody should be really in that position.”

What spurred Trump’s whiplash-inducing reversal of an already-reversed course?

After he proposed the toll, Trump told a reporter Tuesday, he was allegedly contacted by “kings and emirs and all of the people that we all know and we all love … and they said, ‘We’d love to do it a different way.’”

Also, after Trump initially announced the tolls, Iran asserted its control of the strait. Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi answered Trump with a message on X: “POTUS is absolutely right. Whoever provides secure and safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz should be compensated for this service. Iran has always been the GUARDIAN of the Strait and will remain so FOREVER. 20% is of course too much. We will be fair.” ...