Rubio’s Warning From Just Three Weeks Ago Comes Back to Bite Him

Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s statement from just last month, declaring that no country can charge tolls through the Strait of Hormuz, appears to directly contradict a new plan announced by his boss.

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President Donald Trump said Monday that instead of returning the vital shipping passage to a toll-free status, as it was before Trump launched his war with Iran on Feb. 28, he has decided to start charging a toll.

“The Hormuz Strait is OPEN, and will remain OPEN, with or without Iran. We are reinstating the THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE, so named because it is only stopping Iran’s ships or customers from entering or leaving,” Trump wrote. “All other countries will have fair and open use of the Strait.”

”The U.S.A. will be, from this point forward, known as ‘THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT,’ but as such, and as a matter of FAIRNESS, will be reimbursed, at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped, for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the World,” Trump continued.

Trump’s new policy has brought renewed attention to Rubio’s comments on potential tolls in the strait, in which he slammed the idea of any country charging tolls to use the passageway.

“That’s the law. It’s an international waterway. No country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway,” Rubio said just three weeks ago on June 23.

“That’s existing international law. That’s the way it is in international waterways all over the world and that’s the way we’ll expect it’ll be here,” he continued.

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The Daily Beast has reached out to the State Department for clarity.

Trump’s announcement comes as the U.S. is rapidly reescalating its war with Iran.

The White House reached a temporary ceasefire deal with Tehran in mid-June, one that explicitly prohibited any tolls on commercial ships, but that deal has been undermined by repeated attacks in the region. Trump also proclaimed last week that the “Cease Fire is OVER!”

“I don’t want to deal with [Iran] anymore,” the president declared at the NATO summit last week.

Following Trump’s announcement, Iran disputed that the U.S. is in control of the strait, with Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi writing in an X post that Iran, not the U.S., controls the strait and should be “be compensated for this service.”

“Iran has always been the GUARDIAN of the Strait and will remain so FOREVER,” he added.

After Trump’s announcement, the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization, the regulator of sea transport, also reasserted that it “stands firmly against charging fees for passage through straits used for international navigation.”