U.S. President Donald Trump has reinstated the American blockade of Iranian ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz and demanded a 20% reimbursement for all other cargo shipped through the waterway.

Trump¡¯s announcement, in which he asserted the U.S. would become the waterway¡¯s ¡°GUARDIAN,¡± intensifies an ongoing spat between Washington and Tehran over the status of the shipping passage at the center of the two nations¡¯ revived conflict.

American military forces were set to resume blockading traffic to and from Iranian ports and coastal areas beginning Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement. It said later on X that it had completed the latest in a series of strikes over the past week after a five-hour mission aimed at degrading ¡°Iran¡¯s ability to attack commercial shipping.¡±