Trump has said the strait should remain open to international shipping and not be controlled by anybody.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on May 28 that Oman had given assurances that it does not intend to facilitate any effort to charge tolls on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Bessent was responding to a question about President Donald Trump’s May 28 remarks that the United States could take military action if Oman is engaged in efforts to charge tolls for passage through the waterway.
Trump has said the strait should remain open to international shipping and not be controlled by anybody, adding, “Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we’ll have to blow them up. They understand that.”
Bessent said the president’s remarks were intended to “punctuate” the importance of preserving freedom of navigation in the strait.
“I had a call with the Omani ambassador this morning, and he assured me that there were no plans for tolling the strait,” he told reporters at the White House.
“As he said, our countries have had 200 years of good relations. He wants to have another 200 more, and I told him that this was a nonstarter and he did not want to risk either the Omani individuals or Omani financial institutions getting sanctioned.”
Oman previously acted as a mediator in U.S.–Iran nuclear talks, which later fell through after U.S. and Israeli forces launched a military campaign aimed at eliminating Iran’s nuclear weapon capabilities.
The escalating conflict has disrupted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway through which a significant share of global oil and gas shipments pass.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) told vessels to sail through Iranian waters around Larak Island to avoid the risk of naval mines in the usual lanes through the strait, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported in April.
The United Nations’ shipping agency, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), said at the time that there was no international agreement under which tolls could be introduced for transiting international straits.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said on May 25 that Iran is working with Oman on a protocol to ensure safe maritime passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
