Iran Approves Transit Service Fees for Authorised Ships in Hormuz

Iran has approved a plan to charge vessels from countries it permits to use the Strait of Hormuz for services provided by Tehran, formalising a revenue mechanism at the centre of the confrontation with Washington over the waterway.

The National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Iran's parliament approved Article 3 of the Strategic Action Plan for Security and Development of the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday. Commission spokesperson Hassan Ghashghavi said the article had been carried over from an earlier session and was passed at the weekend sitting.

"Under Article 3, fees will be charged for services including maritime, environmental, fuel supply in special conditions, insurance, safety, and other services provided in the Strait of Hormuz," Ghashghavi said. Payment can be made in Iranian rials or in another currency selected by Iran. National Security Commission spokesperson Ebrahim Rezaei said ships from countries authorised to use the waterway would have to pay for services Iran provides.

Ghashghavi framed the measure as consistent with freedom of navigation under international law while protecting the security, sovereignty and rights of the littoral states, adding that the Persian Gulf and the strait carry their own rules and conditions. He pointed to Oman, which on accepting the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea issued a political statement that the convention would not affect its national sovereignty and security.

The fee schedule lands while Tehran maintains that the strait itself remains shut. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said on Saturday that the waterway would not reopen until the United States fulfils its commitments and changes its behaviour. "The Strait of Hormuz is closed, despite American claims, and will not open until America corrects its behaviour," he said, adding that Washington had moved away from military options and was relying on economic pressure.

US President Donald Trump has repeated a claim to jurisdiction over the waterway, sharing an image on social media describing the strait as new US territory, and told a gathering on Long Island on 14 August that he would shortly declare the strait a territory of the United States. He has also warned foreign governments against extending Iran any lifeline.

Iran has warned of countermeasures against tanker traffic it does not authorise. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has called for a diplomatic route out of the dispute, saying Iran ought to work to end the conflict while protecting its national strength and dignity. For owners and charterers, the practical effect is that a VLCC or product carrier routed through the strait now faces a cost line that did not exist in any charter party written before this year, alongside the war risk premiums already in force.