Iran has revealed plans to collect service fees from ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz — a decision that flies in the face of President Donald Trump’s warning that any such charges would bring negotiations between the two nations to a halt.
Ambassador Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli made the announcement Saturday while speaking at the World Peace Forum in Beijing. He said Iran was working alongside Oman in “collaboration and cooperation” to establish “new arrangements” for how the strait would be managed. He also noted that “special considerations” would be given to “friendly countries” whose vessels pass through the waterway.
Fazli argued that the fees are justified because the Strait of Hormuz runs through Iranian territorial waters, though he pushed back against describing the charges as tolls.
“As a country where the Hormuz is part of its territorial waters, we will definitely charge service fees,” Fazli stated.
He went on to explain the purpose of the new framework, saying, according to AFP: “These new arrangements will be concerning guaranteeing the security of passage through the Straits of Hormuz, supervision of the passage of the vessels … and also guaranteeing and dealing with the environmental consequences of the massive number of ships.”
President Trump had previously made clear that any effort by Iran to levy charges on vessels using the strait would put an end to talks over a memorandum of understanding, or MoU, aimed at resolving the broader conflict between the two countries.
Just last month, Trump posted on Truth Social claiming that Iran had given the United States assurances it would not impose any fees on commercial shipping. “Iran has informed the US that, despite troublemaking Fake News reporting to the contrary, there are ‘NO TOLLS, NO INSURANCE COSTS, & NO OTHER CHARGES OF ANY KIND BEING SOUGHT OR RECEIVED BY IRAN ON SHIPS TRAVELING THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ,’” Trump wrote.
The original MoU signed between Iran and the United States included a provision allowing commercial vessels to pass through the strait without charge for a period of 60 days. However, the agreement left open the question of what rules would govern passage once that two-month window closed.
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most critical shipping routes, with roughly 20% of the global oil and gas supply moving through it during normal times. Shipping traffic through the waterway was disrupted during the conflict involving the United States, Iran, and Israel, which contributed to a significant spike in oil prices.
