Trump says US is reinstating blockade on Iranian ports
In a new Truth Social post, the US president, Donald Trump, has claimed that the strait of Hormuz is open and will “remain” open “with or without Iran”, and said the US will reinstate its blockade of Iranian ports.
He said the US would start charging fees on ships transiting through the narrow waterway, claiming the US would levy a 20% fee “for any and all costs necessary” to provide security and safety for vessels.
Trump wrote:
We are reinstating the THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE, so named because it is only stopping Iran’s ships or customers from entering or leaving.
All other countries will have fair and open use of the Strait. The U.S.A. will be, from this point forward, known as “THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT,” but as such, and as a matter of FAIRNESS, will be reimbursed, at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped, for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the World. The process and formation will begin immediately.
Key events
The leader of Yemen’s internationally recognised governing council said he would not expand his confrontation with the Iranian-backed Houthis after his forces hit Sanaa airport, apparently to prevent an Iranian plane from landing.
“I have also ordered that the scope of the confrontation not be expanded in a manner that would achieve Iran’s objective of dragging Yemen and its people into wars,” Rashad al-Alimi said.
The Houthi militant group controls Sanaa, while Yemen’s internationally-recognised government, backed by Saudi Arabia, is based in the southern Yemeni city of Aden.
Iran won’t let US intervene in management of strait of Hormuz, top joint military command says
In a fresh statement, Iran’s top joint military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, warned that Iran will not allow the US to intervene in the management of the strait of Hormuz.
The statement, attributed to a spokesperson, was published through Iranian media and said the Iranian armed forces will “deal severely” with any “disruption” caused to the passage of commercial vessels through the strait of Hormuz by the US “outside of Iran’s designated route and without the permission of the armed forces”.
In a warning to other countries in the region, the spokesperson added that any cooperation with or logistical support for the US “will be considered a war against Iran’s sovereignty and national security”.
“If the war expands in the region, the flames of war will engulf all countries in the region.”
We can now bring you some more comments from Donald Trump’s phone interview with Fox News on Monday morning.
“We’re taking over the strait. They’ve got nothing,” the US president told Fox & Friends.
Referring to the strait of Hormuz, he continued: “We’re going to guard it. We’re going to get paid for guarding it – a lot of money.”
“We’re going to be reimbursed, because the other nations are very wealthy. They’re on our side, and we can’t be expected to do that for nothing,” Trump said, as he suggested the US would charge countries for safeguarding passage through the dangerous waterway.
During the phone interview, Trump complained about the tactics of Iranian negotiators seeking changes in what he suggested was agreed during hours of talks over the weekend.
“Yesterday, they had an 11-hour meeting … And everything was agreed to yesterday. And they leave the room, and they call back, and they say we had to make a couple of changes,” he added, without elaborating.
An Iranian plane carrying a Houthi delegation back from Tehran has landed in Yemen, the rebels said, after Yemen’s government said it struck Sanaa airport to prevent the aircraft from landing.
Houthi broadcaster al-Masirah quoted the group’s transport minister as saying “the Iranian plane has landed on the homeland’s soil, carrying a number of medical patients and stranded citizens, accompanied by the official delegation of the Republic of Yemen”.
It did not specify where the plane landed.
Trump claims the US will control strait of Hormuz and get paid for it
The US president, Donald Trump, said on Monday that the United States would probably take over the strait of Hormuz and should be reimbursed for controlling the vital waterway.
“We’re going to keep the strait, and we’ll probably run it. We’ll become the guardian of the strait.
“Maybe we’ll call it the guardian angel of the strait. And we should be reimbursed for that,” he said in a phone interview on Fox News’ Fox + Friends program.
Yemen’s internationally-recognised government said it struck Sanaa airport on Monday, as the Houthis blamed the government’s Saudi backer for the attack.
The government said it wanted to prevent an Iranian plane from landing in the Yemeni capital, after they failed to convince the Houthi delegation that went to Tehran for the late supreme leader’s funeral to board a Yemenia flight instead.
“The terrorist Houthi militias – backed by the Iranian regime – prevented Yemeni national aircraft from landing at the airport in the capital, Sanaa, while insisting on allowing an Iranian plane to violate Yemeni territory; consequently, the airport runway was targeted,” the Yemeni defence ministry said.
The Houthi’s al-Masirah TV had previously reported that “Saudi aggression targeted the departure and landing runways at the Sanaa international airport”.
Andrew Sparrow
The UK government has announced that it is in effect proscribing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). It is doing so using new powers under the National Security (State Threats) Act 2026.
Ministers have been under pressure for years to proscribe the IRGC, which backs terrorist activity outside Iran.
But the last Conservative government, and Labour when it took power, argued that it would be difficult to use laws intended to target terrorist organisations against a state-run organisation.
You can read more in our UK politics live blog:
UK to list Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as terrorist organisation
Kiran Stacey
The UK will list Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation, ministers have announced, in a major escalation of the diplomatic tensions between London and Tehran.
The Home Office said on Monday it would ban support for the IRGC, a central branch of the Iranian military, after years of political division over the issue. The move is equivalent to proscription, though not legally identical.
Ministers are also set to outlaw the the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right (IMCR), which has been blamed for a series of attacks on Jewish targets in the UK, and the Russian Federation Volunteer Corps (GRU), an international branch of Russian military intelligence.
The Home Office said in a statement:
Having carefully considered all the evidence, the home secretary has concluded that there is sufficient basis to reasonably believe that each of these bodies is engaged in foreign power threat activity, and that each designation is necessary to protect the safety and interests of the United Kingdom.
The government said it was proscribing the IRGC after a number of threats on UK soil, including a plot to assassinate two Iran International television journalists, as well a cyber-attacks on British targets.
US ‘military aggression’ turned strait of Hormuz into ‘high-risk zone’, Iran embassy in UK says
In a statement published to social media, the Iranian embassy in the UK claims Tehran is complying with the memorandum of understanding with the US, having established “a temporary safe and secure maritime corridor” free of “technical and military barriers”.
“Meanwhile, the US which has done nothing but violate the MoU since day one, is pushing vessels toward a dangerous southern parallel route,” it wrote on X. See the post at 11.18 which explains the southern vs northern routes through the strait of Hormuz.
“That route is not only legally questionable but also unsafe, unreliable, and prone to accidents. Adding to the threat, US military aggression, including attacks on Iran’s port & tower infrastructure, has turned the strait of Hormuz into a tense, high-risk zone for maritime traffic,” the embassy, based in London, wrote.
“Those who enabled this perilous situation must reconsider their stance, if they truly seek safe passage through the strait of Hormuz. Security is a two-way street.”
The US has said its forces were prepared to ensure “freedom of navigation” across the strait, declaring the waterway open to all commercial vessels.
The Joint Maritime Information Center, a US-led military organisation, has recommended vessels take a route through Omani territorial waters in the south of the strait, rather than the Iranian-approved northern route.
Explosions have been heard around Iran’s Bandar Abbas city and Qeshm island, according to Iranian media reports. There have been no immediate reports of any casualties or damage done to residential infrastructure.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/jul/13/us-iran-strikes-middle-east-strait-of-hormuz-military-latest-news-updates
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