Trump says US could charge for Strait of Hormuz passage amid Iran war

US president says Washington, as the ‘winner’ of the war, has a ‘concept’ for charging a toll in strategic waterway.President Donald Trump has suggested the United States may be looking to charge a toll in the Strait of Hormuz after the war, a move that would likely require direct US military control over the strategic waterway.Asked on Monday whether he would accept a deal that would allow Iran to take fees from ships to traverse the strait, the US president said: “What about us charging tolls? I’d rather do that than let them have them. Why shouldn’t we? We’re the winner. We won.”Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Where are Iran’s power plants that Trump has threatened to destroy?list 2 of 3Trump warns deadline ‘final’ as Iran pushes proposal to end warlist 3 of 3Democrats blast Trump for Iran ‘war crimes’ threat; Republicans supportiveend of listTrump reiterated that Iran has been militarily defeated, a claim that he has been making since the early days of the war, despite Iran’s sustained drone and missile attacks across the region and its continuing blockade of Hormuz.“The only thing they have is the psychology of, ‘Oh, we’re going to drop a couple of mines in the water.’ All right, no, I mean, we have a concept where we’ll charge tolls,” Trump told reporters.Hormuz, which connects the Gulf to the Indian Ocean, lies mostly within Omani and Iranian territorial waters. About 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) passed through the strait before the war.Trump’s latest comments came as he issued what he called a “final” ultimatum to Tehran to reopen the strait and agree to Washington’s terms or face attacks against Iran’s civilian infrastructure, including bridges and power plants.The US president told reporters on Monday that any deal with Iran must include reopening the Strait of Hormuz.“We have to have a deal that’s acceptable to me, and part of that deal is going to be, we want free traffic of oil,” he said.