Even if this were actually going to happen, what is he doing? Renting out the US Navy for profit?
Sure maybe a few servicemen may die but at least America will get some money!
I mean, it’s a part of government that hasn’t been privatized. Imagine if the Armed Forces turned a profit and had a market mandate? Works really well for the prison system! /s
Just fucking die
It’s a complete illusion that the US can control this strait. It could destabilize it further if it wishes, but there is no getting a ship through without Iran’s cooperation.
Because Iran has a ton of land along the straight from which they can launch missles, drones, rockets, or even artillery at passing ships. There’s a huge region where they can attack the strait, and the US can’t put hundreds of thousands of troops on that land to hold it all. Therefore Trump cannot declare the strait open, though he can declare the strait closed (this just hurts him most of all).
All his bullshit about floating ships at one end to “gate” the passage, and escorting ships, and shooting down rockets…. It’s complete bluster. Even with the entire US military he cannot guarantee safe passage. And that’s just one of the things he has to do if this war continues. He also has to try to defend our allies in the Gulf and elsewhere.
Did a 5 year old playing make believe write this?
I DECLARE… WHOREMUZ!!!
Setting aside the many other things wrong with this, 20% the value of the cargo is just stupid. Most of it doesn’t have that much profit margin in the first place. I know it’s a number straight out of his ass, but damn, the stupid…
Didn’t we already do this in March with the whole “nuh uh I’m actually closing the strait to you” bs? I hate summer reruns.
“We will pay you to cross the strait.”
…
“You will pay us to cross the strait.”
This dumb motherfucker thinks he can somehow do a protection racket on the entire rest of the world. Fucking moron.
Iran already closed the strait when the ceasefire was broken.
I am very skeptical that he writes any of these tweets anymore.
He regularly denies saying things he’s on camera saying, but doesn’t deny these types of things… He seems to be proud of them
Who’s crazy enough to write such delusional things in this insane style?
Dozens of different satire writers do this daily
I’m going to try answering the titular question, despite the factual situation being wholly divorced from sanity, through no fault of the OP directly. Unless some new convention on the laws of the sea has been enacted vis-a-vis international waters – which the Strait is – a nation which provides some sort of service over that area is not entitled to remuneration. It would be gratis.
That said, in the very different context of aeronautical navigation, there is indeed precedence for providing a service to an international zone, but this is agreed to by multilateral treaty, not imposed. For this, we look to the massive area of the north Pacific Ocean, for which there is essentially no radar service available. And yet, to enable civil aircraft to fly without colliding with each other at speed, somebody needs to coordinate the flight routes and provide weather information. Through ICAO, the USA is the contracting state that provides such service over the Oakland Oceanic Flight Information Region. This means most of the Pacific Ocean is not USA airspace, but does follow the American procedures for organizing traffic (which follows from ICAO rules but possibly with small tweaks). This is the distinction between “USA airspace” and “USA controlled airspace”. ICAO chose the USA because no other country can realistically perform this service, nor has anyone else put in an offer to ICAO.
To pay for this service, the USA FAA charges overflight fees. Since the FAA is a civil agency, it does not have authority to order a shoot-down of an airline’s jets due to non-payment. Rather, the FAA can collect the owed fees through the American courts, just like anyone else would through a lawsuit for money damages. The FAA could also take adverse regulatory action, such as providing less or no service, subject to minimum obligations required by ICAO. The agency can also choose to cancel or disapprove of flights headed to/from USA airspace. If an airliner flies into the territorial airspace of any country without permission, then the air force would respond, not the civil air regulator.
So what does this have to do with international waters and maritime navigation? The air example shows how an equivalent fee for water passage would have to be implemented, when it concerns international waters. Everyone has to agree to the terms, the fee has to be economically reasonable, the contracting state must have some relationship to the area in question, and an international organization must actually contract with a qualified state to provide said service.
The present action in the Strait meets none of this criteria. So yeah, a ship could try their luck and pass through the Strait without making payment. Maritime and international law would not support the USA’s claims for remuneration, even if adjudicated in an American court.
That is a very thorough analysis, which relies on international law, legal precedent, and common sense.
But, have you considered that Donald Trump doesn’t give a fuck, and does what he wants? If he wants to charge a 20% fee for going through a body of water he doesn’t own, who’s gonna stop him? He will just go and do it, before anyone has the time to type out the word “adjudicated” on their phone.
You actually think trump or hegseth have any idea how to even coordinate a blockade across the entire strait? They already fired most of the people in the pentagon/military who actually knew what they were doing. So actually coordinating this is way beyond the mental capacity of any of the loyalists who are left.
Trump is just spouting bullshit because he doesn’t want to look like a loser because Iran is playing him like a fool with their control of the strait. Trump won’t do shit, remember TACO.
They have no idea how to coordinate a blockade effectively. But they know how to sound all tough and convince their supporters that they are kicking ass, even if all the missiles are gone and we can’t do shit anymore.
In today’s episode of “Cool Story, Bro”:
Absolute insanity.
This is extortion, therefore an act of war against all nations dependent on shipments from and to Hormuz.
When Iran started extorting ships for passage through the strait, his first thought was to do the same thing.
And that’s how the price of oil and gas went up 30%
