{"id":61370,"date":"2026-04-10T19:40:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T19:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/61370\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T19:40:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T19:40:03","slug":"tehrans-500bn-tollbooth-would-change-shape-of-middle-east-forever-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/61370\/","title":{"rendered":"Tehran\u2019s $500bn \u2018tollbooth\u2019 would change shape of Middle East forever"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oil tankers used to sail down the middle of the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But since Feb 28, any seeking to cross the 21-mile-wide waterway have had to take a detour<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In what has become known as the \u201cTehran Tollbooth\u201d, vessels must now head closer to the Iranian coastline, nosing themselves between the islands of Qeshm and Larak.<\/p>\n

Ship owners then go through a complex \u2013 and expensive \u2013 process of negotiation.<\/p>\n

First, according to Bloomberg, they are required to inform intermediary companies linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps<\/a> (IRGC) of the ship\u2019s cargo, destination and ultimate owner.<\/p>\n

Iran<\/a> then charges a \u201ctoll\u201d of at least $1 per barrel, with the rate rising according to the perceived friendliness of the national operator.<\/p>\n

Fees must be paid in Chinese yuan, or a cryptocurrency. The average rate for a single oil tanker is $2m (\u00a31.5m). If everything is approved, IRGC boats will finally provide an escort into and out of the \u201ctollbooth\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A giant banner hanging in Enghelab Square in Tehran reads: \u2018The Strait of Hormuz will remain closed; the entire Persian Gulf is our hunting ground\u2019 – Fatemeh Bahrami\/Anadolu via Getty<\/p>\n

This system \u2013 informal and illegal for now \u2013 represents Iran\u2019s biggest win from the war<\/a> with the United States. It is now the target of the two-week ceasefire announced by Donald Trump. The US President has stated that the pause in fighting is strictly \u201csubject to\u201d the \u201cCOMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING\u201d of the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

However, Iran\u2019s statement said that any crossing had to be carried out \u201cin conjunction\u201d with the Iranian military \u2013 something very different to free passage \u2013 and an Iranian official told AP that the deal allowed Tehran to still charge fees.<\/p>\n

The next two weeks will see which system holds.<\/p>\n

Left in place, the tollbooth could earn a vengeful rogue state hundreds of billions of dollars and fundamentally reshape both the Middle East and maritime trade around the world.<\/p>\n

That prospect makes its long-term survival unlikely, analysts told The Telegraph.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran has learned how to keep the global economy in a hostage situation,\u201d said Petras Katinas, a research fellow at the London-based Royal United Services Institute think tank.<\/p>\n

\"2503<\/p>\n

2503 Hormuz tankers redirected<\/p>\n

At moments, Donald Trump has appeared to be attracted by the idea of operating the toll booth himself, rather than opening up free passage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat about us charging toll?\u201d he said this week. \u201cI\u2019d rather do that than let them have them. Why shouldn\u2019t we? We\u2019re the winner. We won.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gulf nations are concerned that Mr Trump will prompt a final, furious round of regional bombardments and then walk away with the strait \u2013 at least temporarily \u2013 under Tehran\u2019s control.<\/p>\n

Some countries might be forced to pay the export toll at first, one Gulf diplomatic source told The Telegraph.<\/p>\n

Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Bahrain lack alternative pipelines, and supplies of liquid natural gas can only be delivered by ship.<\/p>\n

Nations like India might send their own tankers through the strait to collect oil and gas, bearing the \u201ctollbooth\u201d cost themselves.<\/p>\n

But over time, the Gulf nations will not tolerate a system that funnels vast wealth towards a hostile regime that has already blown up chunks of their critical infrastructure, the diplomatic source said.<\/p>\n

\"0304<\/p>\n

0304 Strait of Hormuz traffic<\/p>\n

Hugo Dixon, a columnist for Reuters, estimated that Tehran could earn $500bn over the next five years, creaming off profits for as long as it takes to construct new pipelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even a fraction of that sum would slingshot the Shia nation to regional dominance. It would allow the IRGC to rebuild, many times over, its obliterated military.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think this war can end if Iran is still running the \u2018tollbooth\u2019,\u201d said Ellen R. Wald, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council\u2019s Global Energy Centre, based in Washington DC.<\/p>\n

She said that \u201cSaudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf countries cannot stand for it\u201d and would eventually \u201chave to build an army and fight\u201d.<\/p>\n

In the near term, Iran\u2019s enemies could use their own missiles to target the regime\u2019s shadow fleet tankers, which are now transporting double the amount of oil they were before the war \u2013 and for almost double the profit.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday morning, if not before, the world will find out whether Mr Trump followed through on his threat to destroy Iran\u2019s \u201centire civilisation\u201d without a deal to reopen the strait.<\/p>\n

If he did not, there is no road left to take in terms of rhetorical threats, and the likeliest route out of the conflict becomes a quick and dirty deal that leaves Tehran in some form of control.<\/p>\n

\"Donald<\/p>\n

Donald Trump has suggested European nations should be the ones to police the strait as America does not need to import oil – Maxine Wallace\/The Washington Post\/Getty<\/p>\n

Recently, Mr Trump suggested that the United States had no need to reopen the strait, given bountiful domestic energy supplies. Oil-starved Europe should do the job itself, he said.<\/p>\n

But US super-majors, including Chevron, are heavily involved in the Gulf oil business, often running partnerships, and a permanent Iranian \u201ctollbooth\u201d would seriously undermine the international principle of the freedom of the seas, said Ms Wald.<\/p>\n

Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, no country can interfere with the \u201cinnocent passage\u201d of ships<\/a> through maritime choke points<\/a> or straits. Tolls can only be charged at man-made canals, such as the Suez or Panama.<\/p>\n

Last month, in a letter to the International Maritime Organisation, Iran argued that its \u201ctollbooth\u201d was justified by self-defence<\/a>. It had to inspect foreign, possibly hostile ships and the fee covered such costs, the regime told the watchdog.<\/p>\n

Turkey charges a small fee to escort ships through the Dardanelles, but \u201cthat\u2019s because it\u2019s a very perilous waterway and Turkey provides coastguard services,\u201d said Ms Wald. Iran\u2019s legal claim was absurd, by contrast, resting simply on extortion.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States entered World War One in part to secure freedom of the seas,\u201d Ms Wald added. \u201cLeaving the tollbooth in place now would be like saying, \u2018We don\u2019t care about that any more \u2013 Britain, you can charge people to enter the English Channel\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a worst-case scenario, the law of the sea breaks down and Russia or China take greater control over the choke points in their back yards.<\/p>\n

Inside Iran, the IRGC would use oil funds to supercharge its ongoing takeover of the entire state, said Dr Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer at the School of Security Studies at King\u2019s College London.<\/p>\n

While the overall level of traffic through the strait would fall \u2013 sanctions bar Western firms from engaging in any business with the IRGC \u2013 the tollbooth windfall \u201cwould help to build a military dictatorship\u201d.<\/p>\n

The IRGC would emerge as a \u201cmore radical, more empowered, more financially robust system that can go and build networks east with Russia and China\u201d.<\/p>\n

The prospect is catastrophic enough for so many nations that it is more likely to collapse than be allowed to take root, said Basil Germond, a professor of international security at Lancaster University.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistorically, attempts to condition or close strategic straits \u2013 including Hormuz in the 1980s \u2018tanker war\u2019 \u2013 tend to prompt escalation \u2026 involving the use of force,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Whether it is seizing Kharg Island, further US bombardments or Gulf counterstrikes, \u201cit is more likely that the quagmire will resolve with further use of kinetic force, rather than the implementation of a stable, widely accepted and enforceable tollbooth\u201d.<\/p>\n

Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oil tankers used to sail down the middle of the Strait of Hormuz. But since Feb 28, any…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[38,34,424,1364,39,101,69,21246],"class_list":["post-61370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tehran","tag-donald-trump","tag-iran","tag-irgc","tag-oil-tankers","tag-persian-gulf","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-tehran","tag-tollbooth"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116382113907171166","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61370","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=61370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}