Trump says Washington will not accept Iran’s imposition of a de facto toll booth system in the critical waterway.
Donald Trump says the Strait of Hormuz will reopen “fairly soon” with or without Iran’s assistance, as Tehran’s effective blockade of the waterway continues to disrupt energy supplies worldwide.
The president said the US would “open up the Gulf” and that other countries were ready to “help out”.
“It won’t be easy,” Trump told reporters on Friday before peace talks between US and Iranian negotiators in Pakistan.
“I would say this: We will have that open fairly soon,” he added.
Trump did not elaborate on how the US would unblock the critically important chokepoint.
He warned that he would not accept Iran’s effective imposition of a tollbooth system on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Tehran has indicated that it intends to charge vessel owners fees for safe passage, even in the event of a deal to end the war.
“If they are doing that, we’re not going to let that happen,” Trump told reporters before boarding Air Force One in Maryland.
Trump said ensuring Iran does not possess nuclear weapons would be the priority in any peace agreement, and the strait would open “automatically”.
“No nuclear weapons, that’s 99 per cent of it,” Trump said.
“The strait will open up,” he added. “If we just left … otherwise they make no money.”
Despite the announcement of a two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran on Tuesday, shipping in the strait effectively remains at a standstill, disrupting energy exports from the Gulf.
Shipping tracking data shows that since the start of the ceasefire, just 22 ships with their automatic identification system turned on have exited the strait. That’s compared with about 135 daily transits before the war.
More than 600 vessels, including 325 tankers, remain stranded in the Gulf, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
The situation in the strait is “fundamentally unchanged” from how it was before the ceasefire, said Matt Smith, lead oil analyst at Kpler.
“Iran is essentially the gatekeeper, letting its own tankers through, letting some allies or friendlies send through products for humanitarian reasons,” Smith told Al Jazeera.
“And then there is a final subset which may be either brave or have approval from Iran to pass through.”
Smith said it is unclear whether vessel owners have been paying tolls to Iran.
“All we do know is that there is a new shipping route to exit the Strait of Hormuz – a ‘safe corridor’ that Iran is governing and vessels are using,” he said.
The US vice president JD Vance has landed in Pakistan for talks with Iranian negotiators aimed at securing a permanent end to the war.
The US and Iran have offered conflicting messages on the agreed terms for the negotiations, including the details of a 10-point plan proposed by Tehran.