--- title: Trump Insists U.S. Should 'Run' Strait of Hormuz and Get Paid For It description: "The USA will be, from this point forward, known as 'the guardian of the Hormuz Strait,'" said the U.S. President. canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/07/13/us-iran-conflict-oil-prices-strait-of-hormuz-trump-control/ author: Tiago Ventura article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-07-13T16:47:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-07-13T22:39:22.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Insists U.S. Should 'Run' the Strait of Hormuz and Get Paid For It og:description: "The USA will be, from this point forward, known as 'the guardian of the Hormuz Strait,'" said the U.S. President. og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/07/13/us-iran-conflict-oil-prices-strait-of-hormuz-trump-control/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f607a340caaecd1/6a54ebdadf09ab430c6ba5e2/GettyImages-2284911795.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3534 og:image:height: 1988 og:image:alt: GettyImages-2284911795.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Insists U.S. Should 'Run' the Strait of Hormuz and Get Paid For It twitter:description: "The USA will be, from this point forward, known as 'the guardian of the Hormuz Strait,'" said the U.S. President. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f607a340caaecd1/6a54ebdadf09ab430c6ba5e2/GettyImages-2284911795.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Insists U.S. Should 'Run' the Strait of Hormuz and Get Paid For It > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. Senior correspondent Philip Elliott brings sharp context to the issues driving the capital, connecting the decisions made in Washington to the institutions, industries and people they affect. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Tiago Ventura](https://time.com/author/tiago-ventura/), [Olivia-Anne Cleary](https://time.com/author/olivia-anne-cleary/) and [Connor Greene](https://time.com/author/connor-greene/) Updated: Jul 13, 2026 10:39 PM UTCPublished: Jul 13, 2026 4:47 PM UTC  President Donald Trump speaks at the White House on July 6, 2026. President Donald Trump speaks at the White House on July 6, 2026. Anna Moneymaker—Getty Images by [Tiago Ventura](https://time.com/author/tiago-ventura/), [Olivia-Anne Cleary](https://time.com/author/olivia-anne-cleary/) and [Connor Greene](https://time.com/author/connor-greene/) Updated: Jul 13, 2026 10:39 PM UTCPublished: Jul 13, 2026 4:47 PM UTC President Donald Trump said the U.S. should control the [Strait of Hormuz](https://time.com/article/2026/03/17/what-is-the-strait-of-hormuz-global-trade-oil-flow-iran-war/), a crucial passage through which around a fifth of global oil production typically flows, as renewed hostilities with Iran intensify. “We are going to keep the Strait. We will probably run it,” Trump [told](https://x.com/clashreport/status/2076643654584664243) _Fox & Friends_ Monday during a phone interview. “We'll become the guardian of ⁠the Strait. Maybe we'll call it the ‘guardian angel’ of the Strait.” He added that the U.S. would ideally then be “reimbursed” for their guardianship of the waterway by “other" nations. Soon after, Trump [announced](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116913091653271692) that the U.S. is reinstating its [naval blockade against Iran and](https://time.com/article/2026/03/17/what-is-the-strait-of-hormuz-global-trade-oil-flow-iran-war/) will charge 20% on all cargo shipped through the Strait to cover "any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the world." The President's remarks came as oil prices soared by more than 3% Monday morning after the U.S. and Iran traded further strikes over the weekend. Brent crude, the international benchmark, neared [$80 per barrel](https://www.ice.com/products/219/brent-crude-futures/data?marketId=6018448), a significant rise from the same time last week, when it traded at [$71.99.](https://www.ice.com/products/219/brent-crude-futures/data?marketId=6018448&span=1) Although prices remain well below the $126 peak [reached in April,](https://time.com/article/2026/04/30/iran-war-nuclear-capabilities-trump-deal-strait-of-hormuz/) during the height of the war, the surge reflects the concerns over shipments transiting the Strait, which has a threat level of [“severe”](https://www.ukmto.org/-/media/ukmto/products/jmic-advisory-note-01426-soh-not-closed.pdf) due to high volatility in the area. Stocks in [Europe](https://uk.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/european-stocks-slip-as-middleeast-flare-up-triggers-oil-uptick-4766850) and [Asia](https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/asia-stocks-fall-as-usiran-tensions-lift-oil-s-koreas-kospi-slides-5-4787406) also fell at the start of the week, and Wall Street [futures](https://www.tradingview.com/news/stocktwits:6b937668c094b:0-nasdaq-s-p-500-futures-slip-as-iran-tensions-rattle-markets-again-why-mu-tsla-batl-skhyv-msft-tsm-sls-are-in-focus/) dipped amid the geopolitical tensions. Later on Monday, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) [announced](https://x.com/CENTCOM/status/2076775758299570613) that it had started launching a fresh wave of strikes against Iran that it said would continue to break down the country’s ability “to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.” The strikes came not long after Trump said during an afternoon interview on “The Hugh Hewitt Show” that the U.S. was “going to hit them very hard tonight, and we're going to hit them hard tomorrow, and there's not a damn thing they can do about it." During the interview, Trump also said that the U.S. would “take out” Pickaxe Mountain, an underground site near Iran’s Natanz nuclear site that Iran has maintained is a centrifuge manufacturing facility but that analysts have suspected may be being built as a uranium enrichment site. The site is deeply buried beneath the ground—so deep that experts have said it could be out of the reach of the U.S.'s “bunker buster” bombs, which were previously used to severely damage the nuclear facility in Natanz. "We're going to take out Pickaxe Mountain. Tell the Iranians to be ​ready," Trump said. ### U.S. and Iran trade strikes amid tussle over Strait of Hormuz The U.S. military on ​Saturday evening [said](https://x.com/CENTCOM/status/2076089130857951463) it had begun "launching the third round of strikes this week against Iran" after Iranian forces "blatantly attacked" a Cyprus-flagged container ship transiting the Strait. Late Sunday afternoon, U.S. forces [launched](https://x.com/CENTCOM/status/2076415793458303021) additional strikes against Iran "to continue degrading their ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the Strait" after Tehran said it had disabled a second vessel, this time off the coast of Oman. Iran retaliated by again targeting U.S. assets in Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, and Oman. The hostilities continued into Monday, with Bahrain—home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet—[reporting](https://www.bna.bh/en/StatementbyGeneralCommandofBahrainDefenceForce.aspx?cms=q8FmFJgiscL2fwIzON1%2bDg90%2fWIspU7BqPeZWqlHGaY%3d) it had intercepted multiple Iranian missiles. Jordan also [said](https://x.com/Petranews/status/2076524420194058609) it had intercepted missiles that entered its airspace from Iranian territories. CENTCOM then on Monday afternoon said that it had begun “launching the third consecutive night of strikes against Iran,” which it asserted would keep “imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces” and degrading the country’s capacity to launch further attacks in the Strait. Esmail Baghaei, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, [argued](https://t.me/Tasnimnews/431746) that Iran had not been the first to violate the peace agreement and insisted the country had “entered negotiations with meticulousness and seriousness.” Tehran, over the weekend, reported it had closed the [Strait of Hormuz](https://time.com/article/2026/07/12/what-is-the-status-of-the-strait-of-hormuz-/), with Iran's IRGC later [stating](https://t.me/irna%5F1313/428526) the only way to fully reopen the waterway was to “end the interventions of the aggressive U.S. military." Trump has [insisted](https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=792&v=HQBLAbPbx0E&feature=youtu.be) the Strait is open, yet commercial traffic remains well below normal levels. Ship-tracking data from Kpler, cited by [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/world/iran-war-live-sirens-bahrain-iran-escalates-after-more-us-strikes-2026-07-13/?arena%5Fmid=VVV6pFyX3KgBtRHIKFcP), showed that only six vessels transited the Strait on Sunday. This is far lower than [the 138 vessels](https://www.ukmto.org/-/media/ukmto/products/update-008---jmic-advisory-note-08%5Fmar%5F2026%5Ffinal.pdf?rev=2b8c9ce801d34ff790337efd2938a76e) that typically passed through the waterway each day prior to the war. Since U.S. and Iranian officials signed the Memorandum of Understanding on June 17, there has been an attempt to reduce Iran's chokehold over the Strait by routing commercial vessels along a southern corridor hugging Oman's coastline. But Iran has repeatedly [warned](https://x.com/Gharibabadi/status/2070435843907473625) vessels against using any alternative routes. Meanwhile, the U.S.-Iran cease-fire appears to be in tatters after Trump last week told NATO summit attendees that the[ interim agreement was “over.”](https://time.com/article/2026/07/08/us-iran-ceasefire-over-trump-strikes-strait-of-hormuz/) The MoU laid out the terms for an extended 60-day cease-fire, allowing time for further technical talks to take place. That deadline is set to expire in mid-August, but amid flare-ups of violence and accusations of violations from both sides, it seems little progress has been made in negotiations. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/07/13/us-iran-conflict-oil-prices-strait-of-hormuz-trump-control/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/07/13/us-iran-conflict-oil-prices-strait-of-hormuz-trump-control/"},"headline":"Trump Insists U.S. Should 'Run' the Strait of Hormuz and Get Paid For It","datePublished":"2026-07-13T16:47:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-13T22:39:22.000Z","description":"\"The USA will be, from this point forward, known as 'the guardian of the Hormuz Strait,'\" said the U.S. President.","url":"https://time.com/article/2026/07/13/us-iran-conflict-oil-prices-strait-of-hormuz-trump-control/","keywords":["Iran"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f607a340caaecd1/6a54ebdadf09ab430c6ba5e2/GettyImages-2284911795.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tiago Ventura","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tiago-ventura/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia-Anne Cleary","jobTitle":"Cleary is an editor at TIME, based in the London bureau.","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-anne-cleary/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Connor Greene","jobTitle":"Editorial Fellow","url":"https://time.com/author/connor-greene/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f607a340caaecd1/6a54ebdadf09ab430c6ba5e2/GettyImages-2284911795.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GettyImages-2284911795.jpg","caption":"","creditText":"Anna Moneymaker—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/iran/","name":"Iran"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/07/13/us-iran-conflict-oil-prices-strait-of-hormuz-trump-control/","name":"Trump Insists U.S. Should 'Run' the Strait of Hormuz and Get Paid For It"}}]}] ```