Iran in Talks With Oman Over Permanent Hormuz Toll System
Iran is discussing with Oman a permanent toll system that would formalize its control over maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, Bloomberg reports.
“Iran and Oman must mobilize all their resources both to provide security services and to manage navigation in the most appropriate manner,” Iran’s ambassador to France, Mohammad Amin-Nejad, told Bloomberg in Paris on Wednesday.
Iran’s unprecedented closure of the strait is the biggest consequence of the US-Israeli war on the Islamic Republic. Traffic has shrunk sharply since the conflict began in late February, with Iran allowing few vessels through and the US blockading Iranian ports. Energy prices have surged, while inflation fears triggered a global selloff in government bonds.
“We’ve always said a tolling system in the strait would be unacceptable,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Thursday. “No one in the world is in favor of a tolling system. It can’t happen. It would make a diplomatic deal unfeasible. It’s a threat to the world that they would try to do that, and it’s completely illegal.”
Located between Iran and Oman, the strait connects the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean and normally carries about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, along with commodities such as aluminum and fertilizers.
Iran refuses to reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the US lifts its naval blockade of Iranian ports. Amin-Nejad said traffic has not been completely interrupted and claimed, without evidence, that 26 tankers and other ships crossed between Tuesday and Wednesday with help from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. That would still be far below pre-war levels of about 135 ships a day.
Amin-Nejad blamed soaring insurance costs for the slowdown, though shipping companies cite missile and drone attacks and sea mines as the main risks. Most say they will not send vessels through until the war ends.
Iran and the US agreed to a fragile ceasefire on April 8 and are exchanging messages through Pakistan about a peace deal, but both sides say they are prepared to resume fighting.
The strait remains a major sticking point, with Europe and Gulf Arab states including Saudi Arabia insisting Iran cannot control a chokepoint long treated as international waters.
Iran has expanded its claimed jurisdiction and imposed new transit rules in the roughly 24-mile-wide waterway. Ships must now deal with a new body, the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, and in some cases face payment demands of up to $2 million for safe passage.
Iran says countries including China and South Korea have coordinated with the IRGC navy to move ships through, though neither country has confirmed that and Iran has not said whether fees were charged.
Tehran has indicated it plans to maintain control over Hormuz after the war to deter future US and Israeli attacks and potentially raise revenue for its war-damaged economy.
