Iran will charge a toll for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz while barring transit through the vital waterway to any vessels linked to the U.S. or Israel, leaders in Tehran said Thursday.
The state-controlled Fars News Agency said the plan won the approval of Iran’s National Security Commission but must pass a full parliamentary vote before it can be signed into law. It is being framed not just as a revenue source for Tehran but as a formal assertion of Iranian sovereignty amid the ongoing conflict with the U.S. and Israel.
“This is entirely natural; just as goods pay transit fees when passing through other corridors, the Strait of Hormuz is also a corridor. We provide its security, and it is natural that ships and oil tankers should pay such fees,” said Mohammadreza Rezaei Kouchi, an Iranian lawmaker who chairs the Civil Affairs Committee of the Islamic Consultative Assembly.
Vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz must provide a detailed manifest, crew details, and information about the owner of the ship. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will provide a route code and an armed escort once the screening is complete, officials said.
The Strait of Hormuz has become a central focus of Operation Epic Fury, the U.S.-led joint military campaign targeting Iran’s nuclear, missile, and naval capabilities to eliminate alleged imminent threats and prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
About 20 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products pass through the strait daily — about 20-25% of the world’s daily oil consumption. The vast majority of oil exports from Persian Gulf producers like Saudi Arabia and Iraq pass through the crucial maritime chokepoint.
Tehran’s plan drew a sharp rebuke from British officials who convened a virtual meeting of 41 countries on Thursday to brainstorm ideas to eliminate the bottleneck at the Strait of Hormuz.
“We have seen Iran hijack an international shipping route to hold the global economy hostage,” said U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper. “In the last 24 hours, it is estimated that five vessels passed through the Strait, which is an international shipping route that would normally see 150 vessels a day.”
She said Iran has launched more than 25 attacks on ships since Operation Epic Fury commenced. At least 20,000 seafarers are “trapped” on about 2,000 ships that can’t proceed because of Tehran’s effective blockade of the maritime passageway, Ms. Cooper said at the start of Thursday’s meeting.
“Iranian recklessness towards countries that were never involved in this conflict, which we and 130 countries have strongly condemned at the United Nations, is not just hitting mortgage rates and petrol prices and the cost of living here in the U.K. and in many different countries around the world,” she said. “It is hitting our global economic security.”
Thursday’s discussion was focused on the diplomatic and economic pressure the group could impose on Tehran, along with reassuring nervous energy markets.
“We are also convening military planners to look at how we can marshal our collective defensive military capabilities … once the conflict eases,” Ms. Cooper said.
Analysts said it was a shrewd move for U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer to have his government host a meeting of countries that have been reluctant to deploy military force to oppose Iran’s violation of freedom of navigation along the Strait of Hormuz.
“The purpose of the meeting is to examine ’all viable’ options to reopen the strait ’after the fighting has stopped,’” said Edmund Fitton-Brown, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank. “But, American skeptics will note that we may not be looking at a return to the status quo anytime soon. Even if the U.S. unilaterally halts military operations, Iran could still wreak havoc in the Strait.”
On Wednesday, President Trump said that Iran’s navy is gone, its air force is in ruins, and most of Tehran’s leaders are now dead. In an address to the nation, he vowed that the bombing attacks would continue for the next two or three weeks if the U.S. is unable to come to an agreement with Tehran.
The U.S. could “hit each and every one of their electric generating plants very hard and probably simultaneously,” Mr. Trump warned.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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