Trump reinstates Strait of Hormuz blockade and 20% shipping fee

BBC is much more complete on the fee-and-blockade piece of the story. It reports that Trump first vowed a 20% charge on all cargo through the Strait of Hormuz, then wrote that he had “decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals” from Gulf states, while keeping the strait “open to ALL Ship traffic except for Iran.” Breitbart does not mention the 20% fee, the replacement investment deals, or that quoted exception for Iranian shipping. Fox News’s piece is about Nancy Mace’s travel-ban bill, and Daily Wire’s is about Pickaxe Mountain, so Breitbart carries the direct right-side account of the Hormuz fighting. Breitbart is more detailed on the military-strike side. It names Greater Tunb Island, says the Wednesday strike began at “7:30 a.m. Eastern,” lasted “90-minute[s],” and hit “coastal defense systems and cruise missile storage and launch sites.” BBC mentions the prior “seven-hour wave of strikes” and “dozens” of targets near the strait, but not Greater Tunb Island or the 90-minute Wednesday strike. The language split is stark. BBC leads with Trump threatening to “bomb bridges and power plants” and says the threatened targets include “civilian infrastructure,” immediately adding Volker Türk’s warning that deliberately attacking it is “a war crime.” Breitbart leads with CENTCOM trying to “erode Iran’s ability to bomb its neighbors and attack random civilian ships,” calls Iran a “terrorist state,” and describes U.S. operations as “defanging the IRGC.” Both quote Trump saying, “We’re going to knock out all of their power plants” and “all of their bridges,” but BBC foregrounds the legal/civilian-infrastructure issue while Breitbart places that quote well below Iran’s ship attacks and CENTCOM’s rationale. The unanswered question is basic: what legal authority lets the U.S. declare itself “guardian” of the strait, exclude Iranian ship traffic, impose or replace a 20% cargo fee, and blockade Iranian ports? BBC says Trump gave “no further details”; Breitbart does not address the fee or blockade mechanism at all.