The Strait of Hormuz, which links the Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, has held global attention since Israel and the US began their war on Iran in February.<\/p>\n
Until fighting began, the narrow channel, through which 20 per cent of the world\u2019s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies are shipped from Gulf producers in peacetime, remained toll-free and safe for vessels. The strait is shared by Iran and Oman and does not fall into the category of international waters.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n After the US and Israel began strikes, Iran retaliated by attacking \u201cenemy\u201d merchant ships in the strait, effectively halting passage for all, stranding shipping, and creating one of the worst-ever global energy distribution crises.<\/p>\n Tehran continued to refuse to re-open the strait to all traffic at the start of this week, despite US President Donald Trump\u2019s threats to bomb Iran\u2019s power plants and bridges if it did not relent. Trump backed away from his threat on Tuesday night when a two-week ceasefire, brokered by Pakistan, was declared.<\/p>\n That followed a 10-point peace proposal from Iran that Trump described as a \u201cworkable\u201d basis on which to negotiate a permanent end to hostilities.<\/p>\n As part of the truce, Tehran has now issued official terms it says will guide its control of the Strait going forward. The US has not directly acknowledged the terms ahead of talks set to begin in Islamabad on Friday. However, analysts say Tehran\u2019s continued control will be unpopular with Washington, as well as other countries.<\/p>\n During the crisis, only a few ships from specific countries deemed friendly to Iran and those which pay a toll have been granted safe passage. At least two tolls for ships are believed to have been paid in Chinese yuan, in what appears to be a strategy to weaken the US dollar, but also to avoid US sanctions. China, which buys 80 percent of Iran\u2019s oil, already pays Tehran in yuan.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what we know about how shipments will work from now on:<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi said Iran would grant safe passage through the strait during the ceasefire in \u201ccoordination with Iran\u2019s Armed Forces and with due consideration of technical limitations\u201d.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) released a map of the strait showing a safe route for ships to follow. The map appears to direct ships further north towards the Iranian coast and away from the traditional route closer to the coast of Oman.<\/p>\n In a statement, the IRGC said all vessels must use the new map for navigation due to \u201cthe likelihood of the presence of various types of anti-ship mines in the main traffic zone\u201d.<\/p>\n It is unclear whether Iran is collecting toll fees during the ceasefire period.<\/p>\n However, Trump said on Tuesday the US would be \u201chelping with the traffic buildup\u201d in the strait and that the US army would be \u201changing around\u201d as the negotiations go on.<\/p>\n The Strait will be \u201cOPEN & SAFE\u201d he posted on his Truth Social media site on Thursday, adding that US troops would not leave the area, and threatening to resume attacks if the talks don\u2019t go well.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not known to what extent US troops are directing what happens in the strait now.<\/p>\n Delhi-based maritime analyst C Uday Bhaskar told Al Jazeera that there is a lot of \u201cuncertainty\u201d about who can sail through the strait, and that only between three and five ships have transited since the war was paused.<\/p>\n Among Tehran\u2019s main demands listed on its 10-point plan are that the US and Israel permanently cease all attacks on Iran and its allies \u2013 particularly Lebanon \u2013 lift all sanctions, and allow Iran to retain control over Hormuz. The plan has not been fully published but is understood to be a starting point for talks.<\/p>\n Iranian media say Iran is considering a plan to charge up to $2m per vessel to be shared with Oman on the opposite side of the strait. Other reports suggest Iran could charge $1 per barrel of oil being shipped.<\/p>\n Revenues raised would be used to rebuild military and civilian infrastructure damaged by US-Israeli strikes, Tehran said.<\/p>\n Oman has rejected the idea. Transport minister Said Al-Maawali said on Wednesday that the Omanis previously \u201csigned all international maritime transport agreements\u201d which bar taking fees.<\/p>\n Critics of Iran\u2019s plan to charge tolls say it violates international law guiding safe maritime passage, and should not be part of a final ceasefire agreement.<\/p>\n The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) says levies cannot be charged on ships sailing through international straits or territorial seas.<\/p>\n The law allows coastal states to collect fees for services rendered, such as navigation assistance or port use, but not for passage itself.<\/p>\n Neither the US nor Iran has ratified that particular convention, however.<\/p>\n Even if they had, there could be ways to get around this law anyway. Analyst Bhaskar told Al Jazeera that if Iran instead charged fees to de-mine the strait and make it safe for passage again, that could be allowable under maritime laws.<\/p>\n There is no precedent in recent history of countries officially taxing passage through international straits or waterways.<\/p>\n In October 2024, a United Nations Security Council report alleged that the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen were collecting \u201cillegal fees\u201d from shipping companies to allow vessels to pass through the Red Sea and the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, where it was targeting ships linked to Israel during the Gaza war.<\/p>\n Last week, a top adviser to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei suggested the Houthis could shut the Bab al-Mandeb shipping route again in light of the war on Iran.<\/p>\n Tolls for passage through the Strait of Hormuz would likely most affect oil and gas-producing countries in the Gulf, but ripple effects will spread to others as well, as the current supply shocks have shown.<\/p>\n Gulf countries, which issued statements calling for the reopening of the passage and praising the ceasefire on Wednesday, would also face a continuing degree of uncertainty, analysts say, as Iran could again disrupt flows in the future.<\/p>\n Before the ceasefire was announced, Bahrain had already proposed a resolution at the UN Security Council calling on member states to coordinate and jointly reopen the passage by \u201call necessary means\u201d. It was backed by Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan. On April 7, 11 of 15 UNSC members voted in favour of that resolution.<\/p>\n But Russia and China vetoed the resolution, saying it was biased against Iran and did not address the initial strikes on Iran by the US and Israel.<\/p>\n Beyond the region, observers say the US is unlikely to accept indefinite toll demands by Iran as part of the negotiations expected to begin on Friday.<\/p>\n A toll to pass through the Strait of Hormuz \u201cis not going to go down well with President Trump and his expectations that the strait should be open for everyone\u201d, Amin Saikal, a professor at the Australian National University, said.<\/p>\n Other major powers have also voiced opposition. Ahead of the ceasefire, Britain had begun discussions with 40 other countries to find a way to reopen the strait.<\/p>\n Practical realities in the strait might see a different scenario play out with ship owners losing millions each day their vessels remain stranded seeking to get them out quickly and undamaged experts say. They are more likely to comply with Iran, at least for now.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I were the owner of a VLCC [very large crude carrier] which weighs about 300,000 tonnes, whose value could be a quarter billion dollars\u2026I would believe the Iranians if they said we have laid mines,\u201d Bhaskar said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Strait of Hormuz, which links the Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, has held global attention since Israel and the US began their war on Iran in February. Until fighting began, the narrow channel, through which 20 per cent of the world\u2019s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies are shipped from Gulf producers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-explained"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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Who is controlling the strait now?<\/h2>\n
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How does Iran\u2019s 10-point plan affect the Strait?<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nWhat does international law say about tolls on shipping?<\/h2>\n
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How might countries react to a Hormuz toll?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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