Iran War Day 136: U.S. to Charge 20 Percent Fee on Hormuz Shipping, Trump Says 45%

By Harrison Berger73%

7/13/2026, 3:40:00 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 21 faulty reasoning types, including Unattributed Quote, Availability Heuristic, and Out-Group Homogeneity Bias, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 29.4% saturation with 169 hits. Analysis detected 1,069 faulty-reasoning hits from 574 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 47.6% and a BS Rank of 45% (12,103 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 55.30% of the article peer group.

The Strait of Hormuz continued to be a flashpoint in the breakdown of the memorandum of understanding—signed last month by the U.S. and Iran to lay the groundwork for a final peace deal—and in the resumption of hostilities between the two countries, as the Iran War entered its 136th day on Monday. 
The U.S. bombed Iran and Iran retaliated with strikes on U.S. bases Sunday evening, for the fourth time in the past seven days. 
U.S. 
Central Command, which is responsible for the Middle East, claimed American forces had targeted “military air-defense systems, coastal radar sites, missile and drone capabilities, and small boats” while Iran claimed it had targeted missile depots and fuel tanks at the Prince Hassan Air Base in Jordan, U.S. military facilities in Bahrain, and a ground-based radar system in Oman, among other sites. 
The exchange came after Iranian attacks on some vessels that tried traveling through the Strait of Hormuz without coordinating with Tehran, and are part of a broader dispute over management of the critical sea passage. 
Drop Site News reports that the U.S. has exerted pressure to open up a route nearer the Omani coastline beyond Iranian control. 
Iran opposes the creation of that separate Omani channel  which Iran’s Tasnim News Agency refers to as the “Omani-American Corridor”  and points to article five of the MOU , which says “the Islamic Republic of Iran will make arrangements” for the Strait of Hormuz and that the “future administration” of the waterway would be determined exclusively by Iran and Oman. 
President Donald Trump on Monday proposed that the U.S. could charge fees for “guarding,” the Strait of Hormuz, which is currently under Iran’s control. 
“We’re gonna keep the strait and we’ll probably run it,” Trump told Fox News. 
The president added, “We guarded the Strait for 50 years —more  and we never got paid for it….we guarded it for nothing. 
And now we are gonna guard it and we are gonna get paid for guarding it.” 
In a post on Truth Social, Trump claimed that “The Hormuz Strait is OPEN, and will remain OPEN, with or without Iran,” announcing that the U.S. would reinstate a naval blockade on Iranian shipping. 
Trump again proposed that the U.S. become “THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT.” 
He said that, “as a matter of FAIRNESS,” the U.S. “will be reimbursed, at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped, for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the World.” 
Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has continued to plunge since the ceasefire broke down, with Bloomberg reporting Monday morning that it had tracked only seven commercial ships transiting through the waterway in the last 24 hours. 
Shipping tracker Kpler reported that “confirmed Strait of Hormuz crossings declined by around 52% week on week over 10 to 12 July, with traffic reverting to more defensive routing patterns.” 
Kpler noted that the use of Iranian and “dark routes” increased, while use of the Omani corridor and others not controlled by Iran “almost disappeared.” 
The price of oil continued to rise, with the price of Brent Crude at $79.40 on Monday morning. 
The post Iran War Day 136: U.S. to Charge 20 Percent Fee on Hormuz Shipping, Trump Says appeared first on The American Conservative . 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 6.8%The American Conservative: 8.1%Confirmation Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 0.4%The American Conservative: 0.6%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 11.3%Harrison Berger: 5.5%The American Conservative: 3.8%Availability Heuristic11.3%This article: 5.2%Harrison Berger: 1.1%The American Conservative: 1.4%Representativeness Heuristic5.2%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 0.4%The American Conservative: 1.9%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 4.2%The American Conservative: 3.2%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 6.4%Harrison Berger: 12.5%The American Conservative: 8.1%Framing Effect6.4%This article: 7.8%Harrison Berger: 0.5%The American Conservative: 0.4%Loss Aversion7.8%This article: 4.0%Harrison Berger: 0.4%The American Conservative: 0.6%Status Quo Bias4.0%This article: 4.0%Harrison Berger: 0.1%The American Conservative: 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect4.0%This article: 5.9%Harrison Berger: 1.4%The American Conservative: 1.8%Optimism Bias5.9%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 2.3%The American Conservative: 2.7%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 29.4%Harrison Berger: 12.2%The American Conservative: 10.6%Negativity Bias29.4%This article: 6.8%Harrison Berger: 2.2%The American Conservative: 1.1%Self-Serving Bias6.8%This article: 10.6%Harrison Berger: 1.5%The American Conservative: 2.3%Fundamental Attribution Error10.6%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 0.3%The American Conservative: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 1.6%The American Conservative: 2.4%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 10.8%Harrison Berger: 1.8%The American Conservative: 2.2%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias10.8%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 0.4%The American Conservative: 1.5%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 0.1%The American Conservative: 0.4%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 0.0%The American Conservative: 0.1%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 10.5%Harrison Berger: 2.4%The American Conservative: 1.4%Recency Bias10.5%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 0.5%The American Conservative: 0.6%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 0.2%The American Conservative: 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 2.0%The American Conservative: 2.8%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 0.7%The American Conservative: 2.2%Straw Man0.0%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 7.8%The American Conservative: 4.3%Appeal to Authority0.0%This article: 5.9%Harrison Berger: 3.0%The American Conservative: 3.3%False Dilemma5.9%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 2.8%The American Conservative: 2.4%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 0.2%The American Conservative: 0.2%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 6.4%Harrison Berger: 7.1%The American Conservative: 10.3%Hasty Generalization6.4%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 0.1%The American Conservative: 0.4%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 0.8%The American Conservative: 0.7%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 7.8%Harrison Berger: 7.1%The American Conservative: 5.8%Appeal to Emotion7.8%This article: 2.8%Harrison Berger: 2.1%The American Conservative: 1.6%Begging the Question2.8%This article: 9.2%Harrison Berger: 3.5%The American Conservative: 4.6%Post Hoc (False Cause)9.2%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 0.3%The American Conservative: 0.3%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 0.8%The American Conservative: 0.9%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 0.0%The American Conservative: 0.2%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 0.1%The American Conservative: 0.5%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 1.0%The American Conservative: 2.1%Anecdotal0.0%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 0.2%The American Conservative: 0.2%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 2.5%The American Conservative: 2.1%Ambiguity (Equivocation)0.0%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 0.0%The American Conservative: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 0.0%The American Conservative: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 0.0%The American Conservative: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 0.2%The American Conservative: 0.2%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 0.3%The American Conservative: 0.3%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 25.8%Harrison Berger: 6.5%The American Conservative: 3.4%Unattributed Quote25.8%This article: 2.4%Harrison Berger: 4.3%The American Conservative: 2.1%Quote-first Misdirection2.4%This article: 9.1%Harrison Berger: 10.8%The American Conservative: 17.3%Biased Writer Voice9.1%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 1.3%The American Conservative: 2.9%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 1.2%The American Conservative: 1.1%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Harrison Berger: 1.0%The American Conservative: 3.9%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 3.8%Harrison Berger: 0.4%The American Conservative: 0.5%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…3.8%

574 words analyzed.

Speakers

2speakers39%attributed speech350writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 15 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 52 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 23 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 1 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 61 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 35 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 22 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 62 words • 100.0% coverageDonald Trump • 24 words • 0.0% coverageDonald Trump • 14 words • 100.0% coverageDonald Trump • 23 words • 0.0% coverageDonald Trump • 16 words • 0.0% coverageDonald Trump • 34 words • 0.0% coverageDonald Trump • 13 words • 0.0% coverageDonald Trump • 45 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 37 words • 0.0% coverageKpler • 30 words • 0.0% coverageKpler • 25 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 18 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 24 words • 0.0% coverage
Selected voice

Donald Trump

100%flagged-word coverage
169 attributed words75% of attributed speech89% writer coverage
0%20.0%40.0%Unattributed Quote-35.1 ptsWriter: 35.1%Donald Trump: 0.0%0.0%Biased Writer Voice-14.9 ptsWriter: 14.9%Donald Trump: 0.0%0.0%Quote-first Misdirection+8.3 ptsWriter: 0.0%Donald Trump: 8.3%8.3%Attempt to Sell a Product -6.3 ptsWriter: 6.3%Donald Trump: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.