The audacity of the empire really knows no bounds. Like the only reason the Strait was disrupted in the first place is because they attacked Iran. Now they want others to pay them for providing (shitty) protection in a conflict that they keep going because they refuse to cede to Iran being a sovereign country. I think the level of pettiness to it is the part that would make me want to laugh if it wasn’t so angering. Like Iran goes “we’re closing the Strait and charging for passage” and the US goes “nuh uh, we’re closing the Strait and charging for passage.” Like they can’t stop Iran from enforcing sovereignty over the Strait, so in a childlike fashion, they act like they’re doing something by saying they’ll do it too. This is not the actions of stable, mature adult minds. Adult children are managing the empire’s decline and people have to take them seriously anyway because they have control over pre-existing military and economic power.