After three consecutive nights of U.S. airstrikes on Iranian military targets, President Donald Trump declared that American forces are “knocking out all of their offensive capability” and controlling the Strait of Hormuz. In a social media post, he stated that the United States would be known as the “Guardian of the Hormuz Strait” and would impose a 20 percent fee on all shipping through the waterway, calling it reimbursement for protection costs. Iran responded by striking two UAE-linked tankers—killing one sailor and wounding eight—and launching attacks on Bahrain. Despite the escalation, Trump said a negotiated end to the conflict remains possible, though Iran’s foreign ministry described the previous month’s memorandum of understanding as “in crisis.”