Published July 13, 2026 at 10:00 AM ET · Updated July 13, 2026 at 4:10 PM ET
Trump reinstates Iran blockade, declares U.S. will collect tolls to keep Strait of Hormuz open
6 independent outlets are covering this story. Verification: Confirmed — reported independently by wire/mainstream and conservative outlets. Patriot Watch links to original reporting; we don't republish it.
Trump announced that the U.S. would reinstate a blockade on Iran and take control of the Strait of Hormuz, imposing a 20% fee on cargo transiting the waterway. Oil prices rose 6% following the announcement.
Patriot Watch first flagged this story 9 hr ago, when Time reported it. Coverage has since grown to 6 independent outlets, including 4 wire/mainstream feeds. The most recent report came 3 hr ago from Truthout. Verification tier: Confirmed — reported independently by wire/mainstream and conservative outlets.
⚖ The Constitutional Angle
Learning Resources v. V.O.S. Selections held that IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs and that the Executive has no inherent peacetime tariff authority, since the Constitution vests the power to lay duties in Congress. A 20 percent cargo toll is a duty and needs a delegation that does not exist. Youngstown adds that emergency does not create power, only the occasion for power that must already exist.
Learning Resources v. V.O.S. Selections 607 U.S. 229 (2026)
Vote: 6-3 · Opinion: Roberts (C.J.)
THE ANSWER TO THE LITIGATED QUESTION: the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the President to impose tariffs. The Constitution vests the power to lay taxes and duties in Congress; the Executive has no inherent authority to impose peacetime tariffs (a point the government conceded), so any presidential tariff power must come from a congressional delegation. IEEPA's grant of authority to 'regulate ...
Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (The Steel Seizure Case) — CROSS-REFERENCE ENTRY 343 U.S. 579 (1952)
Vote: 6-3 · Opinion: Black
SHORT FORM (full apparatus lives in the presidential-immunity entry): President Truman's Korean War seizure of the steel mills was unlawful — the President's power 'must stem either from an act of Congress or from the Constitution itself,' and neither source supplied it, particularly where Congress had considered and withheld seizure authority. Youngstown supplies the Jackson framework through which Dames & Moore, Zivotofsky, and the 2026 IEEPA tariff decision were all argued: emergency does not create power; it marks the occasion for exercising powers that must already exist.
Precedent facts from the PW Law Library — primary-source verified & independently audited
