Iran Explores Charging for Passage Through the Strait of Hormuz

Iran is pushing a plan that could turn the Strait of Hormuz into a major revenue source, with officials estimating that fees for “security, safety and environmental protection services” could generate about $40 billion a year for the countries involved. According to people familiar with the talks who spoke to The Wall Street Journal on Thursday, the scheme would also give Tehran leverage and income it did not have before the war.

Iran is said to be studying other maritime models, especially the Turkish-controlled Dardanelles, where ships pay the so-called Golden Horn fee to pass between the Aegean and the Black Sea. Iranian officials have presented the idea to Middle East states and to China, and want Persian Gulf neighbors to join the arrangement and share the proceeds. Parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who leads Iran’s negotiating team, said during a visit to Oman on Tuesday, “Everyone should know that managing the strait will never go back to what it was before.”

The proposal has drawn sharp rejection from Washington and Gulf states. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in Bahrain that charging tolls would set a dangerous precedent that could spread “like a plague,” and added, “No country in the world has the right to charge for the use of international waterways, and it will never be an acceptable condition in any agreement.” President Donald Trump also wrote that there are “no tolls, no insurance costs and no other payment” that Iran can demand or receive from ships crossing Hormuz. Oman’s foreign minister, Badr al-Busaidi, said any future arrangement would not include transit fees.

Under a US-Iran memorandum meant to end the fighting and reopen shipping, Iran would be responsible for clearing naval mines and would have to allow free passage without fees for 60 days, while still gaining a say in future management of the strait. Iranian media said Tehran has already set up an insurance company it wants shipping firms to use, and warned vessels to stay on approved routes. Oman separately announced a temporary, safe, toll-free maritime corridor for tankers near its coast, coordinated with the International Maritime Organization. Analysts told the Journal that Iran is also discussing the toll idea with China and Egypt, and even considering US participation, while international legal barriers remain major obstacles.