Iran has discussed plans with its neighbors to extract billions from the global economy by setting up permanent tolls in the Strait of Hormuz—a direct result of President Trump’s disastrous warthat handed Tehran unprecedented leverage over the world’s most critical oil artery.
According to the Wall Street Journal reporting, Iranian officials are boasting to Middle Eastern neighbors that a lucrative new revenue stream is imminent. The Islamic Republic estimated that charging for “security, safety, and environmental services” in the strait could generate $40 billion annually for “participating states.”
The scheme would represent a dramatic reversal of pre-war conditions. Iran has positioned itself to control and monetize the “global shipping chokepoint” it effectively seized when the war began, causing worldwide pain.
To gain regional buy-in, Tehran pitched the toll arrangement throughout the Middle East and to Beijing, proposing that Persian Gulf neighbors share in the revenue, with the Journal noting the model “mirrors” Turkey’s system in the Dardanelles, where ships pay a tax known as the gold franc for passage.
“Everyone needs to know that management of the strait will never return to the way it was before,” declared Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, during a visit to Oman on Tuesday to discuss the arrangements, the Journal reported.
According to the report, “The number of ships crossing the strait on Wednesday reached its highest since the war began, with around 70 crossings, according to ship trackers, whose estimates vary. On average, before the war, 130 oil tankers went through the neck of the Persian Gulf each day.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio attempted to push back during a Middle East trip this week, insisting that tolls or fees represent an unacceptable precedent that would “spread like a contagion and cause chaos.”
“No country on earth has the right to charge for the use of international waterways, and that will never be an acceptable condition of any deal,” Rubio said in Bahrain, claiming Persian Gulf countries have rejected the toll idea.
However, the Journal reported Rubio’s objections may prove toothless, noting, “The 60-day deal to end the fighting and reopen the waterway puts Iran in charge of demining it and insists on toll-free passage for ships in that time. But the document also gives Iran, which doesn’t recognize maritime law governing the strait, a say in the future management of the shipping chokepoint.”
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