WASHINGTON, July 14. /TASS/. No one should charge a fee for the passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, US President Donald Trump stated at a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zeidi.
Commenting on the abandonment of his own idea of the US charging a fee for ensuring safe navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, Trump told journalists that "I don't think anybody should be able to charge a fee for the passage through the strait or for any other strait." "I don't think anybody should be really in that position. But we were doing it as a reimbursement," the US leader noted.
Earlier on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said he had abandoned plans to charge a 20% fee for ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz in favor of trade and investment agreements. On July 13, Trump said the United States wanted to control the Strait of Hormuz and receive compensation equal to 20% of the value of cargo transported through the waterway in return for ensuring safe navigation.
As US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated on June 23, answering journalists' questions upon arrival in Abu Dhabi, the Washington administration proceeds from the assumption that the collection of fees for the passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz by any state would be illegal. On June 25, at a meeting with the foreign ministers of the Gulf countries in Bahrain, he also stated that the US considers the Strait of Hormuz an international waterway and does not accept possible collection of fees by Iran for the passage of vessels through it.