The US President Donald Trump has criticized Iran for its plans to charge tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
He wrote about this on April 9 on the social network Truth Social.
"Reports are emerging that Iran is charging tolls on tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz — it better not be, and if it is, they better stop doing it immediately!" the US president wrote.
In another post, he said that Iran was “very, very poorly, even disgracefully” fulfilling its obligations regarding the passage of oil through the Strait of Hormuz. “This is not the deal we made!” Trump stressed.
Hamid Hosseini, a representative of the Iranian Oil Exportersʼ Union, told the Financial Times that Iran has announced a new tariff for tankers wishing to pass through the Strait of Hormuz during the two-week truce — $1 in bitcoin for each barrel of oil.
War in the Middle East and negotiations between Iran and the US
On the morning of February 28, the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran. These attacks killed Iranʼs Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and almost the entire military leadership of the country — about 40 key high-ranking officials.
Iran responded by launching attacks on Arab countries and Israel. The war also halted tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow sea corridor between Iran and Oman that connects the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean. It is through it that almost a fifth of the worldʼs oil exports — tens of millions of barrels a day — passed.
Donald Trump claimed that negotiations had been held with Iran, which were allegedly initiated by Tehran. During them, according to the US president, the parties reached an agreement on 15 points. One of them is Iranʼs refusal to give up nuclear weapons.
Against the background of the negotiations, the US suspended attacks on Iranian energy facilities until April 6, then Trump named another deadline — no later than 03:00 Kyiv time on Wednesday, April 8. The US president promised that if Iran does not open the Strait of Hormuz by that time, the US will destroy all the countryʼs power plants and bridges.
On March 30, Trump announced that Iran had agreed to most of the demands of his 15-point peace plan. To confirm its willingness to negotiate, Iran gave the United States a “gift” of 20 oil tankers that passed through the Strait of Hormuz.
On April 6, Iran, through Pakistan , submitted a 10-point peace plan proposal to the United States. The American president then rejected it, saying it was an important but insufficient step.
Shortly before the deadline, on April 7, Trump declared that “an entire civilization will perish tonight and never be resurrected.” At around 01:30 on April 8 Kyiv time — an hour and a half before the deadline — Trump announced that the US and Iran had agreed to a two-week ceasefire. During that time, the countries are to agree on a final peace agreement. Israel has also agreed to a ceasefire.
Trump called the 10-point peace plan, which Iran previously transmitted through Pakistan, a working framework for talks that should seal a full peace deal in two weeks. Here are all the points of the plan.
On the afternoon of April 8, the Prime Minister of Pakistan announced that ceasefire violations had been recorded in several places in the conflict zone in the Middle East. Reuters sources reported that Iran had struck the East-West oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia, which is currently the only channel for exporting crude oil from the country, and other facilities. Before that, Iran announced an American attack on the refinery on Laban Island and threatened to respond.
Amidst Israelʼs attacks on Lebanon, Iran has suspended vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Although media outlets previously reported, citing data from the ship tracking service MarineTraffic, that at least two ships had safely passed through the Strait of Hormuz on the morning of April 8.
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