Iran establishes new agency to demand fees for Strait of Hormuz passage as fragile ceasefire with US holds
Iran has created a state agency to demand fees and registration from ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, according to media reports and the Fars news agency. The agency sent emails to shipping companies requesting cargo weight, value, crew nationality, and route details, and said vessels from countries that caused war damage in Iran must pay reparations. The move comes as a fragile ceasefire with the United States remains in place despite fresh exchanges of fire, including a U.S. strike on two Iranian oil tankers and Iranian attacks on three U.S. destroyers.
Iran has established a new state agency to demand fees and registration from ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, according to media reports and the Fars news agency, as a fragile ceasefire with the United States remains in place despite fresh exchanges of fire.
The agency sent emails to shipping companies requesting the registration of vessels stranded in the Persian Gulf, asking for cargo weight, cargo value, crew nationality, planned route, and shipowner nationality. Fars, which is controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported that the agency told shipping companies a fee in Iranian currency and a bank guarantee from an Iranian bank are required for passage. Vessels from countries that caused war damage in Iran must pay reparations before being allowed passage.
The move comes as Iran and the U.S. continue to negotiate over conditions for reopening the waterway. The Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei's Telegram channel stated that Iran reserves "the lever of closing the Strait of Hormuz" for the future, with the aim of ensuring the Iranian population benefits financially from the strait.
The ceasefire between the two countries remains fragile. The U.S. military confirmed on Friday that it fired on two unloaded Iranian-flagged oil tankers near the Gulf of Oman. CENTCOM said the tankers were trying to break the U.S. naval blockade. Iran said it attacked three U.S. destroyers after a tanker was attacked, and also reported attacks on "civilian areas." The U.S. military said it responded with "self-defense strikes" on "missile and drone launch sites, command and control centers, and surveillance and reconnaissance nodes."
President Donald Trump described U.S. strikes on Iranian military sites as a "gentle tap" in an interview with ABC on Thursday and said the ceasefire remains in effect. Shortly afterward, he threatened on Truth Social that Iran would face severe attacks if it did not "sign the deal quickly."
A CIA intelligence report, cited by the Washington Post on Thursday, concluded that Iran still has about 70% of its pre-war missile arsenal and that 75% of mobile launchers are operational. The report assessed that Iran could withstand the U.S. naval blockade for three to four months before severe economic hardship. Trump claimed on Wednesday that Iran's missile stocks had been "decimated" to 18-19% of pre-war levels, saying that is "not much."