Oil prices rise as US prepares to reinstate Hormuz strait blockade, charge 20% ‘on all cargo shipped’
Jake Conley· Breaking Business News Reporter
Updated Tue, July 14, 2026 at 12:09 AM GMT+5:30
4 min read
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Oil prices raced upward on Monday as President Trump said the US would reimpose its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and begin charging a 20% fee on any cargo shipped through the vital waterway, further complicating an already volatile situation in the <a href="https://todaytrendnews7.com/oil-prices-jump-following-the-latest-fighting-in-the-middle-east-while-ai-stocks-sink/” title=”Oil prices jump following the latest fighting in the Middle East, while AI stocks sink”>Middle East
The blockade will begin at 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 14, US Central Command said on Monday. The US military “enforce the blockade against vessels transiting to or from Iranian ports and coastal areas,” per the announcement
Futures on Brent crude (BZ=F), the international benchmark, jumped 9.5% to trade above $83 per barrel, while the US benchmark WTI crude (CL=F) topped $78 — levels not seen in just shy of a month. Brent is on track for its biggest single-day jump since May 2020. Stocks fell to session lows on the developments
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“The Hormuz Strait is OPEN, and will remain OPEN, with or without Iran,” President Trump said on Monday. “We are reinstating the THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE, so named because it is only stopping Iran’s ships or customers from entering or leaving.”
The president also said the US would, going forward, be the “GUARDIAN OF THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ,” and that the country would be “reimbursed” for those services at a 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.”
In an interview with Fox News earlier Monday morning, Trump said the US “can’t be expected to do that for nothing,” in comments about US efforts to keep the Strait of Hormuz open for use by other “very wealthy” nations
It was not immediately clear how, or under what authority, the US planned to collect the cargo fees. The US is not a party to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which holds that international waterways such as the Strait of Hormuz cannot be tolled
US Central Command said the US military redirected more than 140 “compliant vessels,” disabled nine “non-compliant” vessels, and allowed crossings by more than 50 commercial vessels supporting humanitarian aid during the initial blockade from April 13 to June 18
The president’s comments come as the newest wave of post-agreement escalation has proven more serious and long-lasting. Over the weekend, the US military carried out strikes on roughly 140 targets, US Central Command said
Iran retaliated through Monday morning, aiming for US military bases and infrastructure inside other Gulf nations, per state media reporting. The nation also intercepted two vessels in the Strait of Hormuz that had been using an “illegal” route, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said
