Iran sets up ‘tollbooth’ system in Strait of Hormuz
The Cradle | April 2, 2026
Iran has formally started enforcing a controlled transit system in the Strait of Hormuz, requiring ships to undergo vetting and pay fees for safe passage, according to a report by Bloomberg on 1 April.
The report describes a system managed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), where vessels must submit their detailed information, including ownership, cargo, and crew, to an intermediary for review.
Ships are then screened for links to the US, Israel, or other states Tehran considers hostile, with only those cleared permitted to proceed under escort through a coastal corridor dubbed the “Iranian tollbooth.”
Once terms of passage are agreed, ships receive a permit code and designated route, which they must broadcast to Iranian patrol boats upon approach.
Iran’s parliament has already approved a draft law introducing transit fees and restrictions on vessels linked to the US, Israel, and sanctioning states, pending final ratification.
Negotiations over transit fees reportedly follow approval, with oil tankers typically charged from around $1 per barrel, and payments made in Chinese yuan or stablecoins – cryptocurrencies pegged to hard currency values.
With some tankers carrying up to or above two million barrels of crude, total costs can scale significantly, with at least one tanker having paid around $2 million to secure passage so far.
Iranian economist Hossein Raghfar projects Tehran could earn up to $60 billion annually by formalizing transit tariffs across the strait, describing control of the waterway as a “very powerful tool” that has shifted economic leverage in Iran’s favor.
Meanwhile, Iran’s oil sector is benefiting from the US-Israeli war, with revenues rising as global prices surge and exports continue largely uninterrupted.
Revenues from Iranian Light crude rose to about $139 million per day in March, while exports held near 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd), even as other Gulf producers face disruption.
Several governments, including India, Pakistan, Iraq, Malaysia, and China, are in direct talks with Tehran to coordinate vessel transits through the system
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Wars for Israel: A reminder of who’s giving the marching orders
By Damian Lataan | February 7, 2012
As the West prepares to march off to yet another war in the Middle East, we should perhaps remind ourselves of who is giving the West their marching orders.
In February 2003, just weeks before the US and their allies launched their attack on Iraq and her peoples, a delegation of US congressmen, together with the US Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, a well known pro-Zionist and neoconservative war-hawk, were in Israel at the invitation of the Israeli government then led by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Addressing the congressmen, Sharon told them ‘that Iran, Libya and Syria should be stripped of weapons of mass destruction after Iraq’. Later, Sharon told John Bolton ‘that Israel was concerned about the security threat posed by Iran, and stressed that it was important to deal with Iran even while American attention was focused on Iraq’. … continue
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