Trump says Hormuz ship damages will be paid from frozen Iranian assets; Tehran calls it an incendiary precedent

US President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday, 23 July 2026, that damage to ships and cargo in the Strait of Hormuz would be paid for with Iranian money that the United States has in its possession and controls. He added that the damages may be very substantial but that this is, in his words, the fair and equitable thing to do.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the position in a post on X on Friday morning, 24 July, writing that seizing another country's assets to pay for unrelated future claims is an incendiary precedent. He added that once governments normalise confiscation, no one's assets are safe. Iran's frozen assets were one of the issues under discussion in the June memorandum of understanding, which has now effectively collapsed; Washington first froze Iranian funds in 1979, and the exact size of those holdings has never been officially disclosed.

Separately, ship tracking data reviewed by Reuters showed the number of tankers crossing the Strait of Hormuz fell to just one on Thursday, 23 July, the lowest level since 7 May.