Tehran announced the toll mechanism the same day Trump paused a U.S.-led effort to safely escort commercial ships through the strait.
Iranian authorities on May 5 launched a new office for tolling commercial ships seeking to safely sail through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian state-run media outlet PressTV announced the launch of the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, and referred vessels to an email account for the office, where they can inquire about the procedures for transiting the waterway under the Iranian toll mechanism.
After U.S. and Israeli forces began strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran made disrupting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz a key facet of its retaliatory calculus. The narrow maritime passage creates a chokepoint at a major artery for major global commodities, including a fifth of the world’s supply of petrochemicals.
Over the past two months, Iranian forces have attacked several commercial vessels in the waterway, while authorities in Tehran have raised the prospect of institutionalizing their leverage over the waterway through a toll mechanism.
The launch of the Iranian toll system came the same day President Donald Trump announced his decision to pause “Project Freedom,” a mission to escort commercial ships through a corridor guarded by U.S. warships.
Project Freedom had been offering escort support for about two days when Trump announced his decision to pause the effort. He said he made the decision based on a request for Pakistani intermediaries and signs of progress in reaching a lasting peace agreement between Washington and Tehran.
“Project Freedom (The Movement of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz) will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Hours before Trump announced the pause, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, estimated that about 22,500 mariners aboard around 1,500 commercial ships were still waiting in the Persian Gulf for an opportunity to safely pass through the strait.
A pair of U.S. guided-missile destroyers sailed through the Strait of Hormuz on April 11 to begin sweeping for mines and clearing a safe path for Project Freedom’s launch. Approximately 15,000 U.S. military personnel, 25 U.S. warships, and around 100 aircraft had been assigned to support the mission and protect the maritime corridor.
The White House did not respond by publication time to a request for comment about Iran’s new toll mechanism for the strait.
By Ryan Morgan
