The Islamic regime asserted that vessels crossing the Strait of Hormuz would need to pay fees for “navigational services,” denying that such payments were tolls for transiting the waterway, Tehran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei announced at a press briefing.
“The services that are provided, navigational services, in addition to the measures necessary to protect the environment of the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, require the collection of certain fees,” the regime official claimed, pushing that Tehran was “not seeking to collect tolls.”
Though the regime has repackaged the charges as fees instead of tolls, security analyst Roger Macmillan told The Jerusalem Post that it remained a violation of international law.
“Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the Strait of Hormuz carries the right of transit passage. All ships enjoy continuous, expeditious, and unimpeded transit. Coastal states cannot charge for it, suspend it, or impede it, even where the waterway falls entirely within their territorial waters,” he noted. “ Whatever word appears on the invoice, the substance is the same. Iran is seeking to monetize and control passage through an international waterway it has no legal right to manage in this way.”
UNCLOS bars Iran from charging fees over Strait of Hormuz
Under Articles 38 and 44 of UNCLOS, bordering Iran and Oman cannot suspend, impede, or charge tolls for vessels passing through the strait, though Iran is not a signatory to the convention. The convention also permits countries to charge fees for services provided.
Macmillan asserted that the “smoke and mirrors” attempt at hiding the toll was the same attitude the regime had been employing in negotiations with Washington all weekend.
Military historian and intelligence expert Dr. Lynette Nusbacher commented, “There’s this idea that the Iranian government is a bunch of maniacs, but clearly there’s a maritime lawyer who has spoken up and said that if they charge tolls on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, they might face years of arbitration and litigation in maritime courts. If it’s a fee, like a pilotage fee, for getting safely past the obstacles in the Strait, then perhaps the arbitration and litigation will be quick and straightforward.”
The “obstacles,” she noted, just so happened to be Iran’s “antiship missiles and drones pointed at the Strait of Hormuz.”
The New York Times reported on Thursday that Iran and Oman were holding discussions on charging transit fees despite international opposition.
Iran could achieve billions in revenue with Strait of Hormuz toll
J.P. Morgan warned that Iran could achieve $70-90 billion in annual revenue if allowed to charge a toll in the Strait of Hormuz in its 16th annual Eye on the Market Energy Paper: Fighting Words report published last month.
Pointing blame at Washington and Jerusalem, Tasnim News Agency reported Baghaei blamed the new measures on needing to consider Iran’s security concerns in balance with the concerns of the international community.
Nusbacher said that while the Islamic Republic was likely trying to use the waterway to recover from the economic damage from the war, in particular the US blockade, it is also being used to send a message on the regime’s permanence.
“The Iranians will already be talking about relaxing their demands for reparations if they can bill shipowners, or cutting the ‘fee’ for going through the Strait if they get a few billion more from the Americans,” Nusbacher predicted, referencing the ongoing negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
Tehran has increasingly attempted to claim regulatory control over the territory, last week publishing a map asserting its claim over waterways that extended into the territorial waters of both the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
In a post on X, Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority defined its claimed management zone as running from Kuh-e Mobarak to the south of Fujairah in the UAE at the strait's eastern entrance, and from the end of Qeshm Island to Umm al-Quwain in the UAE at its western entrance.