WASHINGTON — President Trump warned Iran Thursday that it “better stop” charging ships fees to pass through the Strait of Hormuz after the regime’s out-of-sight supreme leader vowed a “new era” for the critical waterway. 

The continuing cease-fire hinges on whether Iran reopens the strait and the dueling statements from Trump and Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei come as more than 300 commercial ships are awaiting passage through the critical chokepoint in the Persian Gulf.

“There are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Hormuz Strait — They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The president insisted he was “very optimistic” a peace deal with Iran was within reach, in an interview with NBC News. 

Iran’s leaders, Trump told the outlet, “talk much differently when you’re at a meeting than they do to the press. They’re much more reasonable.They’re agreeing to all the things that they have to agree to. Remember, they’ve been conquered. They have no military.”

Trump warned, “If they don’t make a deal, it’s going to be very painful.”

Meanwhile, Khamenei released a statement on Iranian state-run television teasing a “new era” for the strait but provided little detail of what that entailed. 

“Iran is not seeking war but will not forfeit its rights and considers all resistance fronts as a unified entity,” read the 56-year-old supposed leader’s statement. 

He added: ‘We are still awaiting an appropriate reaction from our southern neighbors so that we can show you our brotherhood.”

Khamenei, who has not been seen since or heard in public since he was injured during the initial Feb. 28 strikes that killed his father, Ali Khamenei, and much of his family, further claimed that Iranians are the “definitive victors” in the conflict while vowing to  “avenge the blood” of the country’s “martyrs.”

Despite the cease-fire, ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz was well below 10% of normal volumes Thursday. 

Shipbrokers have said just a “handful” of ships are exiting the strait, through which roughly one-quarter of the world’s seaborne oil is exported, but the United Arab Emirates noted Thursday that passage is still “being restricted, conditioned and controlled.”

“This moment requires clarity. So let’s be clear: The Strait of Hormuz is not open,” said Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, an Emirati politician and the head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.

The uncertainty caused crude oil prices to jump back up to around $100 per barrel as markets opened Thursday — after inching down to $95 when the cease-fire was announced.

Trump posted on his Truth Social late Wednesday that US forces would remain in the region until Tehran made good on its agreement.

“It was agreed, a long time ago, and despite all of the fake rhetoric to the contrary – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS and, the Strait of Hormuz WILL BE OPEN & SAFE,” the president said.

Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh told ITV News Thursday that it was open to ships pending approval from Iranian authorities.

Around 300 to 400 ships have been approved “under Iranian military coordination” to transit the waterway — with between 10 and 15 creeping through it a day starting April 8, according to a report from Athens-based Xclusiv Shipbrokers.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has threatened that vessels trying to exit “without permission will be destroyed,” charging up to $1 per barrel of oil — to be paid in cryptocurrency or Chinese yuan — for safe passage, the report stated.

Just seven ships had passed through the strait in the last 24 hours, compared to about 140 on a normal day, ship-tracking data showed, according to Reuters, including one oil tanker and six dry bulk carriers. 

Large crude oil tankers can hold up to 2 million barrels, per the US Energy Information Administration.

Trump has suggested that the US and Iran could both participate in charging tolls for the ships, though Tehran’s Supreme National Security Council is currently in control of charging vessels on its side of the strait, shipbrokers said.

Oman is claiming authority over its side and has rejected any tolls.

“Despite this toll being totally illegal, it could offset a significant amount of additional war risk premium,” Xclusive noted in its report. “We have heard from sources on the morning of the 8th April that the extra war risk premium for vessels obtaining clearance has been substantially reduced.”

SV Anchan, the chairman of New Jersey-based shipping company Safesea Group, told The Post that he would “not engage in or support any unregulated or unilateral payment structures that fall outside internationally recognized maritime frameworks.”

“At this stage, we have not received any formal or verifiable confirmation through established maritime or regulatory channels regarding the imposition of a fixed toll structure,” Anchan noted.   

“The Strait of Hormuz remains one of the world’s most critical international waterways, and its governance must be consistent with established principles of freedom of navigation and global maritime law,” he added. “We believe that any attempt to impose unilateral transit charges in an international strait would have far-reaching implications for global trade, energy security, and the stability of maritime commerce.” 

One of Anchan’s tankers – the Safesea Vishnu – was rammed in the Persian Gulf last month by unmanned Iranian boats packed with explosives, killing one crewmember. 

Around 820 commercial vessels remain trapped in the Gulf, with just five having exited on the first day of the cease-fire Wednesday, according to global ship tracking firm Kpler.

“All U.S. Ships, Aircraft, and Military Personnel, with additional Ammunition, Weaponry, and anything else that is appropriate and necessary for the lethal prosecution and destruction of an already substantially degraded Enemy, will remain in place in, and around, Iran, until such time as the REAL AGREEMENT reached is fully complied with,” Trump warned Iran late Wednesday in his Truth Social post.

“If for any reason it is not, which is highly unlikely, then the ‘shootin’ starts,’ bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before.”

Khatibzadeh told ITV News Thursday that the strait was open to ships not expressing “hostile behavior” and pending approval from Iranian authorities.