Iran has once again put ships on notice: pass through the Strait of Hormuz without permission from Tehran, and face the consequences. The warning came even as ongoing negotiations aim to resolve the regional conflict and a United Nations-backed effort begins moving vessels that had been stuck during the fighting.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the ideological branch of the country’s military, issued a formal statement Thursday declaring that the only permitted route through the strategic waterway is one that Iran itself has designated.
“The only authorized route for passage through the Strait of Hormuz is the route announced by the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the Revolutionary Guards stated, adding that any ship crossing without that authorization would be “unacceptable and extremely dangerous.”
The Guards also took aim at a separate route through the strait that they said had been announced by “certain authorities,” rejecting it as illegitimate.
The warning came after a spokesperson for a United Nations shipping agency confirmed that vessels previously trapped by the conflict had begun moving through the Strait of Hormuz. The International Maritime Organization said the operation — which took months to plan and only began rolling out during the ceasefire — is designed to allow hundreds of ships carrying approximately 11,000 sailors stranded in the Gulf to safely pass through.
Adding another layer of tension, Iran has signaled its intention to charge what it calls “maritime service fees” — not tolls, it insists — for ships transiting the strait. That idea drew a sharp rebuke from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who addressed the matter at a Gulf Cooperation Council meeting held in Bahrain.
“International waterways do not belong to any nation state. This is a foundational principle in the world today, without which the world would be in total chaos,” Rubio said.
He went further, warning of the global implications of allowing such fees to stand: “If in fact we accepted that you can charge money to use an international waterway because it happens to be near your territorial space, well then this will spread throughout the world like a contagion.”
Rubio added that while the Trump administration remains committed to reaching a resolution through a signed memorandum of understanding, it is not willing to accept peace “at any price” — and will not tolerate fees being imposed on ships using the Strait of Hormuz.
The strait is a narrow passage between Iran and the Gulf states that serves as a critical chokepoint for global energy supplies, with approximately 20% of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas passing through it under normal conditions.
