U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a Rose Garden Club event in the White House Rose Garden on July 6, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Mandel Gunn | AFP | Getty Images
President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States would “get paid” for guarding the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping route and the center of the escalating war with Iran.
“We’re going to keep the Straits open, and we’re probably going to do that,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News. The interview took place amid renewed gunfire between the United States and Iran, and the prospect of a peace agreement looking even more remote.
Oil prices rose on Monday morning, but stock indexes fell.
“We will be the guardians of the Straits — I guess you could call them the guardian angels of the Straits,” Trump told Fox News. “And we deserve to be redeemed for it.”
“We can’t expect to do it for free, as we have done for many years,” he added. “We’ve been protecting it for free, and now we’re going to protect it, and we’re going to get paid to protect it. A lot of money.”
The president has expressed interest in collecting protection money in the strait, as both Washington and Iran claim de facto control of the international strait. The strait accounted for 20% of world oil trade until it was suspended with the outbreak of war in late February.
Since the conflict began, Iran has signaled plans to impose tolls and other charges on ships passing through the waterway, a scenario rejected by the United States.
The temporary ceasefire agreement signed by the United States and Iran in mid-June explicitly prohibited Tehran from imposing any fees on commercial ships passing through the strait.
But repeated attacks in the region have seriously undermined the agreement, with President Trump last week declaring the ceasefire “over.”
This is developing news. Please check back for the latest information.
