As Iran's Gulf neighbors hunt for a negotiated solution to the ongoing Gulf conflict, hoping to find a deal that could appease both Tehran and Washington, one item is a likely sticking point. Through threats and coercion, along with a likely deployment of sea mines, Iran has set up a transit corridor allowing it to direct and profit from passages through the Strait of Hormuz - and it will not want to let go.
Lloyd's List has identified two ships that have paid for safe passage, including one tanker reported to have paid about $2 million. If multiplied through by the 130-plus transits that the Strait of Hormuz sees every day, the fee structure would earn Iran tens of billions of dollars per year, even if the average per-ship charge were lower. It would also give Iran powerful diplomatic leverage over every nation that needs use of the waterway. So far, several countries appear to have made arrangements, notably India, which recently received the first tanker full of Iraqi oil to exit the strait since the start of the conflict.
The tolling system is in principle acceptable to President Donald Trump, who told reporters on Monday that the next person to control the strait would be "me and the ayatollah - whoever the next ayatollah is." But Iran's neighbors do not approve of the new "toll booth" arrangement at the strait. In quiet diplomatic talks with Tehran, GCC countries have pressed for an agreement to reopen the strait for all traffic under a committee management structure, according to the Wall Street Journal. (Conflicting reports suggest that GCC participation in the talks may be mediated by parties from outside of the conflict zone, including Pakistan and Turkey.)
