Iran MP says genuine revenge against Trump would not require a law

Trump abandoned the proposal within hours after discussions with regional leaders. But before doing so, Iranian officials and commentators seized on it as implicit validation of a position Tehran has long advanced.

The debate began after Trump announced on Truth Social that the United States would collect a 20% charge on all cargo passing through the Strait of Hormuz to cover the costs of securing one of the world's most volatile maritime corridors.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded in English, arguing that the country responsible for ensuring safe passage through the strait is entitled to compensation.

"Whoever provides secure and safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz should be compensated for this service," he wrote. "Twenty percent is, of course, too much. We will be fair."

Tehran claims vindication

Hardline commentator Ehsan Hosseini argued that Trump's proposal undermined critics inside Iran who had insisted charging ships would violate international law.

"Trump says he will charge a 20% fee for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz — roughly $15 per barrel of oil. Yet there are people in Iran's Foreign Ministry who insist that charging transit fees violates international law," he wrote.

Mostafa Faghihi, editor of the centrist Entekhab website, reached a similar conclusion, arguing that Trump had effectively legitimized Iran's longstanding position by presenting the charge as a security fee. He predicted many countries would nevertheless resist such a policy, potentially undermining Washington's own strategic interests.

Reformist journalist Ahmad Zeidabadi offered a different interpretation.

"I doubt Trump seriously intends to implement it," he wrote on Telegram. "More likely, he wants to encourage other countries to join the United States in confronting Iran in the Persian Gulf."

Zeidabadi also suggested Trump may have been attempting to undermine Iran's own proposal by making governments more wary of transit charges generally and linking any US withdrawal of the idea to a similar concession by Tehran.

Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, meanwhile, avoided commenting directly on the proposed fee but rejected the broader premise that Washington could organize maritime traffic through Hormuz.

It warned that any attempt by US forces to direct shipping outside routes designated by Tehran and without coordination with Iran's armed forces would face "strong resistance."

Iranian media presented the statement as a forceful response to Trump's announcement.

International pushback

The United Kingdom, Australia and Brazil rejected the proposal, arguing that international shipping through the Strait of Hormuz should remain free from transit charges.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) also dismissed the proposal, saying it had no legal basis under international law.

"We have always been consistent on our stance on fees—IMO stands firmly against charging fees for passage through straits used for international navigation," an IMO spokesperson said.

Online reactions reflected the same divide.

Some critics of the Iranian government argued that Trump's proposal differed fundamentally from Tehran's because Washington described it as payment for escort and security services rather than a transit toll.

One user wrote: "This isn't a toll. It's an escort fee for ships because of the insecurity we created ourselves. We've handed Trump exactly the justification he needed by repeatedly using the Strait of Hormuz as a negotiating tool."

Trump's proposal survived for only a few hours. But its political afterlife may prove longer.

By arguing that the power securing Hormuz was entitled to compensation, Trump handed Tehran a rhetorical opening to defend its own claims—even though neither country has convinced the world that one of its most important waterways can be treated as a source of unilateral revenue.

As the US-Iran memorandum of understanding unravels and the confrontation shifts toward the Strait of Hormuz, renewed fighting in Yemen is raising a broader question: is Tehran preparing another source of maritime pressure at Bab al-Mandab?

Hezbollah and Hamas have been severely weakened by Israeli military operations. The Houthis, by contrast, remain armed, entrenched and positioned astride one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

Even a credible threat to Bab al-Mandab could unsettle shipping, energy markets and global supply chains. For Iran, that threat alone may be valuable.

The fight over one airplane

The latest escalation followed Yemen's decision to block an Iranian aircraft carrying a Houthi delegation returning from the funeral of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran. Yemen's internationally recognized government accused Iran of attempting to enter its airspace without authorization.

The dispute quickly escalated. An attack damaged Sanaa International Airport's runway. The Houthis blamed Riyadh before targeting Saudi Arabia's Abha International Airport with missiles and drones.

Senior Houthi official Mohammed al-Bukhaiti later warned of what he described as a "siege" of the Kingdom and openly identified Bab al-Mandab as a strategic pressure point.

"The key thing here was the precedent," Chatham House fellow Thomas Juneau told Iran International. "Iran and the Houthis are trying to force open the air bridge between Tehran and Sanaa."

Iran has long supplied the Houthis through maritime smuggling routes stretching around Oman and the Horn of Africa. Those routes are slow, costly and vulnerable to interdiction.

A direct air bridge would dramatically improve Tehran's ability to move sensitive military components into Houthi-controlled territory. That is why one apparently ordinary passenger flight mattered.

Rebuilding the Houthis

Farzin Nadimi, a defense and security analyst at the Washington Institute, believes Iran's urgency reflects another problem: after years of Red Sea operations and repeated US and Israeli strikes, the Houthis are running low on some of their more advanced military capabilities.

"They are very much eager to help the Houthis rebuild their strategic inventory in order to be a viable player again," he said.

Nadimi suspects the aircraft may have been carrying critical weapons components, although there is no independent confirmation of its cargo.

Modern missile and drone forces depend less on complete weapons than on a steady flow of electronics, guidance systems, engines and other specialized components.

If the Houthis are running low, a direct air link would offer Tehran a faster and more reliable route to replenish those capabilities.

A second chokepoint

The strategic importance extends well beyond Yemen.

The dispute between Tehran and Washington is already centered on the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has demonstrated the leverage that can be created by threatening one of the world's most important energy corridors.

A revitalized Houthi force capable of disrupting Bab al-Mandab would force Washington, Saudi Arabia and their regional partners to consider the security of two strategic waterways simultaneously.

"Iran, having demonstrated the extraordinary value for itself of closing the Strait of Hormuz, absolutely understands that if it closes both Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab at the same time, the effect would be magnified," Juneau said.

"The effect on the global economy, the ability to pressure the US, to pressure Saudi Arabia and to pressure all of their allies."

Juneau cautioned that neither Tehran nor the Houthis appear poised to close Bab al-Mandab in the near term. But the ability to credibly threaten it would give Iran another source of strategic leverage.

Yemeni-American researcher and author Fatima Abo Alasrar believes the latest confrontation was deliberately engineered by Tehran.

"I think, honestly, Iran has engineered this escalation," she said.

In her view, widening the potential cost of confrontation creates another avenue through which Tehran can shape future negotiations with Washington.

Saudi Arabia's red line

The confrontation also threatens to upset the fragile balance that has prevailed in Yemen since the 2022 truce.

Saudi Arabia has spent years trying to extricate itself from a costly war that increasingly looked unwinnable.

"It's really Saudi Arabia that's been absorbing a lot of the pain here," Juneau said.

The Houthis understood Riyadh's reluctance to return to full-scale conflict and repeatedly tested how far they could push.

The attempt to establish a direct air bridge between Tehran and Sanaa appears to have crossed a different threshold.

Saudi Arabia may still prefer de-escalation. But allowing Iran an easier route to replenish Houthi military capabilities would strengthen an armed group positioned directly on its southern border and potentially restore its ability to threaten Saudi cities, airports and energy infrastructure.

Alasrar described Saudi Arabia and the Houthis as pieces on a much larger geopolitical chessboard.

"Houthis and Saudis are almost like pieces on a chessboard that are fighting with each other right now," she said. "But it's Iran and the US that get to impose everything."

Whether the Houthis intend to launch a renewed campaign around Bab al-Mandab remains uncertain. Juneau cautions they are not simply Iranian proxies waiting for orders, while Nadimi expects de-escalation unless the wider US-Iran confrontation expands significantly.

Hormuz has already demonstrated the leverage created by maritime chokepoints. Iran may not even need the Houthis to close Bab al-Mandab. If it succeeds in rebuilding their capabilities, simply making the threat credible could become a source of strategic pressure in its own right.

CENTCOM said its forces began another round of strikes at 3 p.m. ET against Iranian military assets it said had been used to attack commercial shipping in the strait. It added that US forces were preparing to resume the blockade of Iranian ports and coastal areas at 4 p.m. ET.

The IRGC responded by explicitly threatening regional energy exports, saying that as long as US “evil actions” continued, “not a single drop of oil and gas” would leave the region. It added that further US attacks would delay any reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Washington says the strikes are intended to protect commercial shipping and restrict Iranian maritime activity, while Tehran portrays control of the strait as a sovereign right and links its reopening to broader political and military conditions.

The latest operation followed a five-hour wave of US strikes on military sites in Bushehr, Chabahar, Jask, Konarak, Abu Musa and Bandar Abbas, according to CENTCOM.

Iranian media later reported explosions across southern Iran, including Bandar Abbas, Sirik, Ahvaz and Qeshm, while authorities said part of a power plant on Kish Island had been damaged.

At least three people were killed in a US strike in Hormozgan province, according to local officials after an environmental protection post and a fodder warehouse were hit.

As US strikes expanded along Iran’s coastline, Iranian attacks spread across the Persian Gulf.

Kuwait said an Iranian strike hit one of its naval vessels, injuring four service members. Its armed forces also reported intercepting one ballistic missile, five cruise missiles and 33 drones, while falling debris damaged civilian and critical infrastructure.

Bahrain sounded warning sirens after its air defenses intercepted Iranian aerial attacks. The IRGC claimed it had struck US military infrastructure in Bahrain and Kuwait and said it had also targeted a US air base in Jordan with ballistic missiles.

The maritime front widened in parallel. Two crude tankers operated by ADNOC Logistics and Services were hit by projectiles while transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

One Indian crew member was killed and several others were injured, prompting India to summon Iran’s deputy ambassador and lodge a formal protest.

A separate tanker reported being hit by a missile off Oman, while Stolt Tankers said one of its vessels was struck by an unidentified external device, causing a fire in its engine room.

Iranian leaders reinforced the military message with competing claims over the strait. Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said it was natural for Iran to administer Hormuz while other countries retained the right to use it.

An army spokesperson said the waterway would reopen only under arrangements acceptable to Iran’s armed forces.

Washington, meanwhile, framed the blockade and strikes as measures to keep Hormuz open to non-Iranian shipping.

President Donald Trump said no country or entity should charge vessels for passage and declared the strait open to all traffic except ships traveling to or from Iranian ports or carrying Iranian cargo.

The growing confrontation triggered diplomatic and economic alarm.

Oman called for respect for international law and freedom of navigation, while India and New Zealand summoned senior Iranian diplomats. The Gulf Cooperation Council and several Arab states condemned attacks on commercial vessels and regional countries.

Oil prices climbed as markets assessed the risk of prolonged disruption through the waterway, which carries a significant share of global energy exports. Major shipping companies also rejected proposals for transit fees or restrictions in international waters.

The war that began over Iran’s nuclear program is increasingly being fought over control of the world’s most important shipping lane.

“The scope of this case is extensive, and more than 200 complaints have so far been filed with the provincial prosecutor's office,” Lorestan prosecutor Ali Hassanvand said.

Three of the channels' main operators had been identified and detained, Hassanvand said.

Police in Lorestan had announced a day earlier that Telegram channels were publishing citizens' private photos with "immoral" content to attract followers and, in some cases, extorting victims and their families by demanding cryptocurrency payments.

Fears over women's safety

Shargh newspaper reported that the channels had attracted tens of thousands of members by publishing women's photos alongside insults, defamatory content and extortion demands.

• 

  Beyond the hijab: discrimination against women pervades Iranian law

The newspaper cited social media posts alleging that five girls had died by suicide and another had been killed by her father after their images were circulated. Those reports have not been officially confirmed.

An unnamed women's rights activist in Lorestan told Shargh the incident had heightened fears among women in the province.

“You have to live here and know the families to understand the consequences,” the activist said. “Some women in our province have become so frightened that they have removed their photos even from domestic and foreign messaging apps. Publishing a woman's picture in our city could cost her life.”

Women's rights advocates have long warned that weak legal protections and the persistence of so-called honor killings leave women exposed to violence in parts of Iran.

100%

Extortion spreads beyond Lorestan

Saeed Sozangar, a network security instructor, told Shargh the channels appeared to be motivated by extortion and revenge, warning that some victims' lives could be at risk.

He said similar networks had also been identified in the cities of Malayer, Bukan and Kermanshah, suggesting the activity extended beyond Lorestan.

• 

  At least 110 women killed in Iran over past year, rights group says

A citizen who contacted Iran International said the channels copied publicly available profile pictures of women without mandatory hijab from social media accounts and reposted them with highly insulting captions. The source added that anonymous submission links encouraged users to send photos of other women.

Similar channels, according to the citizen, have also appeared in Khuzestan, Kermanshah, Hamedan and Tehran provinces.

Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Riyadh and Doha have spent years trying to build globally competitive technology sectors through sovereign wealth, tax incentives, accelerator programs and direct investment.

Despite attacks in the region and renewed fighting between the United States and Iran, founders have largely remained in the region and government-backed programs continue to attract applicants.

None of the 27 companies selected for the February intake of Hub71, Abu Dhabi’s startup program, withdrew after the conflict began, according to Bloomberg. The program’s latest cohort also received a similar number of applications and was the first made up entirely of companies from outside the United Arab Emirates.

The financial effects, however, may not yet be fully visible. Middle East and North African startups raised $1.35 billion in the first half of 2026, down more than 20% from a year earlier, according to data platform Magnitt. The number of deals fell even more sharply to 214, while second-quarter activity dropped to its lowest level in at least two years.

“I don’t believe that the impact of the war has come into the numbers yet, that will come in Q3 and Q4,” Magnitt chief executive Philip Bahoshy told Bloomberg TV, adding that investors were already shifting their attention from early-stage companies toward more established businesses.

Some startups are also facing higher fuel, shipping and insurance costs, worsening cash flow and longer delays in receiving payments. Bloomberg cited one investor as saying that a sovereign investor withdrew a $1 million commitment from a funding round when the war began.

Regional governments are continuing to spend heavily. Hub71 offers successful applicants $140,000 in investment and incentives, while Qatar expanded its Fund of Funds program from $1 billion to $3 billion before the conflict. Startup Qatar has awarded more than $51 million to 45 companies, including 11 since the fighting began.

The Persian Gulf’s startup markets remain smaller than established centers in the United States, Europe and Asia, with limited late-stage financing, technology listings and specialist talent. But founders and investors told Bloomberg that access to capital, lower costs and government support continued to outweigh the risks for many companies.