Iran has established a new government agency, the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, to formally vet and tax all vessels seeking passage through the Strait of Hormuz, shipping data firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence reported on Thursday. The disclosure marks Tehran’s first move to institutionalise its control over the world’s most important oil chokepoint.
The new authority is “positioning itself as the only valid authority to grant permission to ships transiting the strait,” Lloyd’s said in an online briefing, adding that the agency had emailed it an application form for ships seeking passage. Iran has effectively closed the strait to most traffic since the war began on 28 February, while the United States blockades Iranian ports; the new body formalises an existing vetting lane along the strait’s northern waters near the Iranian coastline, where Iran already imposes a tax on the cargo of at least some vessels.
Maritime law experts say Iran’s demands violate the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which calls for peaceful passage through territorial waters. The United States and its Gulf allies are pushing for a UN Security Council resolution that condemns the chokehold and threatens sanctions, but a prior resolution calling for Hormuz to reopen was vetoed by Russia and China.
Separately, a Saudi official told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity that the kingdom did not support Trump’s short-lived Project Freedom escort operation. “We told them that we are not part of this and that they can’t use our territories and bases for this,” the official said, adding that Riyadh sent a message to Iran that the kingdom would not be involved in any US attacks tied to the effort. Trump suspended Project Freedom on its second day, citing diplomacy.
The agency comes as Iran’s parliament earlier this cycle codified a 10-clause Hormuz law creating a permanent toll regime — a structural shift from ad-hoc IRGC closures that, if it takes hold, would push up shipping insurance and freight premiums on every barrel of crude reaching Sri Lanka long after any US-Iran ceasefire.
Source: Ada Derana.
