President Donald Trump announced a plan to block Iranian vessels from the Strait of Hormuz while imposing a 20% fee on other nations’ cargo ships using the waterway, declaring the United States would act as its guardian. In a social media post, Trump said the strait would remain open and that the development of his proposal would commence immediately, though the White House gave no further details on enforcement or coordination with Gulf allies. Shipping companies and maritime experts have sharply criticized the plan as legally questionable and harmful to free navigation, and traffic through the critical passage has already slowed amid renewed US-Iran tensions.