The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) threatened today to halt all energy exports from the Middle East due to the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the Associated Press reported, BTA reported.
“Oil and gas exports from the region will be for everyone or no one“, the IRGC said.
US President Donald Trump announced on Monday the restoration of the blockade, as well as that he would impose a 20% fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Hours before the blockade was to be re-established, however, he abandoned the plan to collect fees, citing stated demands from US allies in the Persian Gulf.
Trump said yesterday that he had received calls from "kings and emirs" in the region who offered an alternative to collecting fees from ships passing through the strait.
"They said they would prefer to do it another way. They said they would like to invest billions and billions of dollars in the United States," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office yesterday. Trump said he preferred this option to collecting fees "because I don't think anyone should have the right to collect a fee to pass through the strait."
It was not clear whether these investment deals represented new commitments to those announced by Trump after his visit to the Middle East last year. Trump's plan to impose fees would mark a reversal of long-standing U.S. policy and a departure from U.S. promises that the strait would remain free for all to pass through without paying fees.
Under the interim agreement, Iran agreed to keep passage through the Strait of Hormuz free for 60 days, but the document does not specify what happens after that period. Iran says it has the right to regulate traffic and potentially collect fees. The United States disputes that.
Meanwhile, regional mediators are continuing their efforts to bring the United States and Iran back to the negotiating table, the AP notes.