Trump Rejects Transit Fees in Potential Deal with Iran

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that any final deal with Iran that includes fees on shipping or maritime transit would be unacceptable to the United States. Speaking to reporters after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House, Trump was asked whether he would reject a final agreement with Iran if it allowed for any form of levy on shipping or maritime activity. “That would be unacceptable to me,” Trump said. The US president argued that allowing such fees could create a precedent that would encourage similar demands elsewhere. “If you do that for them, you have to do it for others. I wouldn’t allow it there either… It would change everything,” he said. Last week, Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian electronically signed a memorandum aimed at paving the way to end the war launched by Washington and Tel Aviv against Iran on 28 February 2026. Under the agreement, Washington and Tehran are holding 60-day negotiations, with the possibility of an extension, aimed at reaching a final deal covering Iran’s nuclear programme and international sanctions. Trump also said the US was “doing well” in the negotiations with Iran. Asked about a US strike on 28 February that reportedly hit a primary school in Minab, Iran, killing more than 170 people, most of them schoolgirls, Trump said he had not seen reports on the matter. “I have to wait until it’s finished… I don’t know if they’ll ever get to the bottom of it, in terms of who’s to blame, because there were missiles flying all over the place,” Trump said. He described what happened as “terrible.” “But there were missiles flying all over the place, and somebody said it was our missile. It may not have been our missile, but I haven’t seen anything that would lead me to believe it was our missile. There were a lot of missiles being fired by other people,” Trump said. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the US was taking the investigation “very seriously.” Trump reiterated that he did not believe the US was responsible. When asked about the strike last week, Trump told a reporter: “That’s a very strange question to ask at this moment, because you’re talking about a long time ago.” Several independent investigations have concluded that the US was responsible for the widely condemned strike, citing evidence such as a US Tomahawk missile hitting the school. Trump had previously suggested that Iran had access to US-made missiles.