The United States warned shipping companies on Saturday that they could face sanctions if they pay Iran to pass safely through the Strait of Hormuz, widening the pressure campaign around one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints.
The warning covered transfers in cash and digital assets, a sign Washington is trying to close off every route Iran might use to collect fees for safe passage. President Donald Trump said he was reviewing a new Iranian proposal to end the war, but added, “I’ll let you know about it later,” and said, “they’re going to give me the exact wording now.”
The move lands as the three-week ceasefire appears to be holding, even after Iran effectively closed the strait following the Feb. 28 war launched by the United States and Israel. Tehran attacked and threatened ships after the fighting began, then later offered some vessels safe passage along routes closer to its shore and charged fees at times, turning a global shipping corridor into both a threat and a bargaining chip.
The Strait of Hormuz sits at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, where about a fifth of the world’s trade in oil and natural gas typically passes. That is why the sanctions warning matters now: even a limited reopening depends not just on a ceasefire, but on whether carriers feel they can move without running afoul of U.S. penalties. Related coverage has tracked the strain on maritime routes before, including a prior account of a U.S. blockade halting Iran-linked shipping and a separate look at how fuel costs can ripple through transport decisions.
Trump rejected a previous Iranian proposal earlier this week, but on Saturday said he was reviewing a new one. Two semiofficial Iranian news outlets said Tehran had sent a 14-point proposal through Pakistan in response to a nine-point U.S. proposal, and Pakistan has hosted previous negotiations between Iran and the United States. The exchange suggests the war is now moving through back-channel diplomacy as much as through the strait itself.
There is also a wider human cost hanging over the talks. The source material on the negotiations also points to Narges Mohammadi, whose health was said to be at very high risk and whose transfer for treatment was opposed by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry. That detail underscores how little trust remains between the two sides, even as both test whether the ceasefire can hold and whether shipping can move without another confrontation.
For now, the key question is not whether either side can declare progress. It is whether Iran will keep using the Strait of Hormuz as leverage while Washington tries to strip away the payments that made that leverage profitable.