The global energy standoff reached a fever pitch Sunday as a top Iranian official declared the Strait of Hormuz will remain effectively closed unless the international community agrees to a permanent transit tax.
Seyyed Mohammad Mehdi Tabatabaei, the deputy for communications in the Iranian president’s office, posted the ultimatum on X, stating that the vital waterway “will reopen only when, under a new legal regime, the damages from the imposed war are fully compensated from a portion of the transit toll revenues.”
The statement is in direct defiance of President Trump’s recent demand that Iran clear the strait by Tuesday or face targeted airstrikes on its domestic power plants.
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By linking the reopening to “war damages,” Tehran is signaling a move to formalize what analysts describe as a “toll booth” system that has emerged over the last few weeks. While the strait is historically recognized as an international waterway, it sits within the territorial waters of Iran and Oman.
Currently, the Iranian government has been charging some commercial shippers seven-figure fees for permission to pass, a practice they now indicate should become a permanent legal fixture.
Most commercial vessels have already diverted their routes to avoid the risk of Iranian strikes, a shift that has crippled oil exports leaving the Persian Gulf. This maritime vacuum has given Iran more leverage to dictate terms to the few ships still attempting the crossing.
However, the proposal for a formalized toll has been met with immediate rejection from Washington.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told ABC News last week that such a system is “not going to be allowed to happen.”
Rubio further emphasized the administration’s stance, noting that “the president has a number of options available to him, if he so chooses, to prevent that from happening.”
With the Tuesday deadline approaching, the gap between Iran’s demand for revenue and the U.S. demand for free passage remains unbridged.
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