Any shipper paying tolls to Iran for passage through the Strait of Hormuz — including charitable donations to organisations such as the Iranian Red Crescent Society — risks punitive sanctions, the US Treasury warned on Friday.

The advisory from Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said the United States is aware of Iranian demands for payments to receive safe passage through the strait, which carries roughly 20% of the world’s seaborne crude oil and liquefied natural gas. Tehran has proposed fees or tolls on vessels using the waterway as part of its conditions for ending the war with Israel and the United States.

OFAC initially advised companies earlier in the week that paying the tolls put them at risk, then clarified on Friday that “payments disguised through charity or indirect payments are not allowed.” Permissible-looking channels named in the advisory include fiat currency, digital assets, offsets, informal swaps and “in-kind payments such as nominally charitable donations made to the Iranian Red Crescent Society, Bonyad Mostazafan, or Iranian embassy accounts.”

“OFAC is issuing this alert to warn US and non-US persons about the sanctions risks of making these payments to, or soliciting guarantees from, the Iranian regime for safe passage,” the Treasury said. “These risks exist regardless of payment method.” Treasury did not name countries or companies that have made indirect payments, but reports cited at least one $2 million payment for a vessel transit.

Treasury also imposed fresh sanctions on three Iranian foreign-currency exchange houses and their associated front companies that it said move billions of dollars annually, and on the Panama-flagged oil products tanker NEW FUSION. “We will relentlessly target the regime’s ability to generate, move, and repatriate funds, and pursue anyone enabling Tehran’s attempts to evade sanctions,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

The warning sharpens compliance risks for any vessel calling at Sri Lankan ports or carrying cargo bound for Sri Lanka. Iran said last month it had deposited the first revenue from Hormuz tolls at its central bank — a development the OFAC advisory now seeks to deter.

Source: Ada Derana (citing Reuters).