Iran says it is charging for navigational services in Strait of Hormuz

Iran says it is collecting fees for navigational services in the Strait of Hormuz, while insisting it is not imposing tolls on ships using the strategic waterway. The claim has drawn a warning from five Gulf states, which have told shipping companies not to comply with Iran's designated route and regulatory zone. The dispute adds to tensions over one of the world's most sensitive maritime chokepoints.

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Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baqaei, said in a weekly briefing that the services being provided in the strait, including navigational support and environmental protection measures in the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, require the collection of certain fees. He said Iran was "not seeking to collect tolls." The statement follows last week's publication of a map by Iran claiming regulatory control over a stretch of the strait that extends into waters claimed by the United Arab Emirates and Oman. The map was issued by Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority, which said vessels transiting the defined area must obtain prior authorisation.

Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates then sent a joint letter to the International Maritime Organisation warning commercial and merchant vessels not to engage with the authority or use Iran's designated route. The letter was distributed by the IMO, underscoring that the dispute is being treated as a question of international shipping regulation. The Strait of Hormuz is a critical energy corridor, with a large share of global oil and gas trade passing through it in peacetime.

Any disagreement over fees, routing or regulatory control can therefore have implications for shipping costs, insurance and the movement of energy exports. The latest claims come at a time when the waterway is already central to wider regional tensions and market sensitivity. The supporting material says the United States and Iran have been locked in a standoff over the strait, and that Iran effectively shuttered the waterway in the early days of the war.

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It also says the United States responded in mid-April by imposing its own blockade on Iranian ports. Those developments have added pressure on Gulf states, which rely on the passage to move oil and gas to global markets. What remains unclear is how broadly Iran intends to apply the fee collection claim, whether shipping companies will alter their behaviour, and how any enforcement would work in practice.

It is also not clear whether the International Maritime Organisation will take further action beyond circulating the Gulf states' warning. The next developments to watch are any further statements from Iran, the Gulf states or the IMO, and whether the dispute begins to affect traffic through the strait.

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