No ships transit Hormuz as Iran plans safe-passage tolls: What to know
An Iranian lawmaker told Fars News Agency that Tehran plans to charge ships tolls to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, formalizing the country’s control over the strategic waterway.
Iran is reportedly drafting a law to introduce tolls to guarantee ships safe transit through the Strait of Hormuz, which, for the first time since the US-Israel-Iran war began, saw no vessels pass through it on Wednesday.
What happened: Fars News Agency, which is aligned with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported early Thursday that a lawmaker said Tehran plans to impose tolls in exchange for secure passage over the strait.
The unnamed lawmaker said the plan would be formalized next week and Iran would "legally recognize" the country's oversight of the Strait of Hormuz.
Since the war began on Feb. 28, only a handful of vessels — most of them Iranian — have transited the strait amid fears of attacks on shipping. On Wednesday, no ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz for the first time since the outbreak of the war, according to data compiled by the Financial Times. Only 114 commodity carriers crossing the strait were recorded between March 1 and March 19, down 95% from pre-war levels, according to data from shipping analytics firm Kpler.
