{"id":119840,"date":"2026-05-18T18:10:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T18:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/119840\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T18:10:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T18:10:21","slug":"iran-moves-toward-formal-strait-of-hormuz-toll-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/119840\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran Moves Toward Formal Strait of Hormuz Toll System"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAhead of Monday\u2019s updated peace proposal for a deal to end the war in Iran<\/a>, a top Iranian official said the country is closer to revealing full details of a new mechanism to regulate maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, including officially incorporating fees for vessels to pass the waterway.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe strait has been effectively shut off to shipping traffic since the start of the war in Iran<\/a> in late February, with Iran\u2019s military threats constricting the passage<\/a> of roughly 20 percent of the world\u2019s daily oil supply and leaving hundreds of ships stranded in the Persian Gulf.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a post on X Saturday, Ebrahim Azizi, chairman of the Iranian parliament\u2019s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said only commercial vessels and parties cooperating with Iran will be able to use the system.<\/p>\n

\n\tAzizi said the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> will remain closed to the operators of \u201cProject Freedom,\u201d<\/a> in a reference to the short-lived U.S. military operation to escort ships through the conflict-ridden canal. Israeli-linked vessels are banned as well.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Monday morning, the self-described official account of the Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) said in its own social media post that navigation within the \u201cintroduced boundaries\u201d of the Strait of Hormuz is contingent upon full coordination with Iran\u2019s armed forces and authorities.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPassage without permission will be considered illegal,\u201d the post read. Earlier that morning, the account said the authority will provide real-time updates regarding Strait of Hormuz operations and developments.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe PGSA was launched earlier this month<\/a> as a regulatory body for Iranian officials to govern ship transits through the channel. Under the system, vessel operators must submit a \u201cvessel information declaration\u201d covering ownership, insurance, crew manifests, cargo and intended routing, according to maritime risk management company Windward. A transit permit is issued only after the PGSA accepts the submission and a fee is paid.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile Iranian officials have never published an official transit fee, reports have indicated that they have charged as much as $2 million<\/a> for vessels to pass.<\/p>\n

\n\tIran could generate $70 billion to $90 billion in annual revenue if allowed to charge a toll in the Strait of Hormuz, according to J.P. Morgan\u2019s annual energy paper published last month.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Monday, another report from Iran\u2019s semi-official Fars News Agency reported that the Islamic republic is starting a Bitcoin-backed insurance service for shipping companies that want to transit the waterway.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat initiative, reportedly known as \u201cHormuz Safe,\u201d could generate more than $10 billion in revenue, Fars reported. There is no known breakdown of how the service would work.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control advised companies earlier this month that both American and foreign entities that make payments may face sanctions.<\/p>\n

\n\tWindward advised shipping firms to treat any payment to Iranian-linked entities as a sanctions-screening trigger, including indirect payments through brokers, agents or charterers.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe maritime risk intelligence firm also said these companies should map third-party counterparty exposure to PGSA transit decisions, noting that a counterparty that pays the toll may transmit secondary-sanctions risk upstream and downstream.<\/p>\n

\n\tBoth the U.S. and China have publicly indicated that no country can be allowed to exact shipping tolls in the Strait of Hormuz. And under international law<\/a>, levies cannot be charged on ships sailing through international straits or territorial seas, according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the wake of his meeting with President Xi Jinping, President Donald Trump said the Chinese leader offered to help reopen the strait. Chinese authorities have not responded to or confirmed Trump\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlthough the U.S. announced that it would provide insurance<\/a> to ships seeking to transit the Hormuz strait back in March, the program has never gotten off the ground, according to a Saturday report from the Financial Times.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe U.S. Development Finance Corporation\u2019s maritime reinsurance program announced by President Trump was supposed to provide $40 billion in coverage<\/a> to help restore maritime trade through the conduit, but no ships have been financially covered to pass.<\/p>\n

\n\tInsurance companies including Chubb, AIG, Berkshire Hathaway, Travelers, Liberty Mutual and Starr backed the plan. According to Chubb, the program\u2019s purpose is to insure ships traveling under naval escort. But since there has been no escort since Project Freedom concluded, the program did not fulfill the requirements needed to cover ships transiting through the strait.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt least 38 ships have been attacked or struck since the Iran war began and 11 seafarers have been killed, according to the International Maritime Organization.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ahead of Monday\u2019s updated peace proposal for a deal to end the war in Iran, a top Iranian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[3676,34,3679,101],"class_list":["post-119840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran","tag-container-shipping","tag-iran","tag-ocean-carriers","tag-strait-of-hormuz"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116596927588561783","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}