After the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the exhaustion of 36 days of war, the conflict in the Middle East threatens to do persistent damage to the world economy.
Hormuz is a strategic enclave and the Iranians have decided that nothing will be the same again. The regime authorities are going to impose restrictions on ships that want to cross the strait. A measure with which they search raise about 100,000 million dollars annually through tolls.
Hormuz will never again be a free navigation passage because its status has definitively changed after the attacks perpetrated by the United States and Israel on February 28.
“The Strait of Hormuz has become a strategic advantage for Iran in the new security conditions and will never have the status it had again before,” said the spokesman for the Presidency of the Iranian Parliament, Abbas Goudarzi.
It was this same week when Goudarzi announced the start of legislative procedures to impose a navigation cost on ships transiting the strait, to be paid in the national currency, the rial.
In comments collected by the semi-official agency TasnimGoudarzi assures that “the management of this important waterway is in the hands of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iranand no country will have the right to transit through it without Iran’s permission, and Iran will defend this strategic position with all its military power.”
Management plan
It was at the end of March when the Iranian Parliament approved the so-called Strait of Hormuz Management Planwhich makes official a toll system for ships that want to navigate through that strategic commercial passage through which a fifth of the world’s oil circulates.
On the one hand, vetoes the transit of ships from countries considered enemies or apply unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
Including an express prohibition of the passage of ships from the United States and Israel, as well as additional restrictions for ships from countries that carry out or participate in actions considered hostile by Tehran.
On the other hand, search raise about 100,000 million dollars annually through tolls—an amount higher than the income obtained from oil sales—according to the agency related to the regime Tasnim.
Although the text has not been made public in full, details revealed by Iranian state news agencies point to a tariff system which may include payments for transit, environmental fees and charges for security, escort and pilotage services (route advice).
El proyecto de ley no fija todavía las tarifas que deberán pagar los buques, pero la agencia Tasnim afirmó que se podría tratar de un pago de dos millones de dólares por buque o un sistema basado en el cargamento de cada barco, como en el canal de Suez.
Bajo el nuevo esquema, la Guardia Revolucionaria de Irán pretende consolidarse como la única autoridad encargada de la seguridad de la navegación en el estrecho, así como de fijar las normas relativas a rutas seguras, servicios de pilotaje y exigencias técnicas para los buques.
La iniciativa legislativa prevé además un marco jurídico compartido con Omán, que controla la orilla opuesta de Ormuz, con el objetivo de coordinar cuestiones técnicas y dotar de cobertura legal al nuevo sistema de control impulsado por Teherán.
El texto todavía debe ser aprobado por el pleno y, previsiblemente, recibir el visto bueno del Consejo de Guardianes antes de entrar plenamente en vigor.
Essential merchandise
Following the announcement by the spokesman for the Presidency of the Iranian Parliament, the Revolutionary Guard has begun broadcasting this Saturday authorizations to pass through the strait for ships carrying humanitarian aid and essential goods.
“Ships carrying essential goods and humanitarian aid have been granted permission to cross the Strait of Hormuz to Iranian ports or ports on the Sea of Oman,” the Iranian news agency reported. Tasnim.
The message is accompanied by an official document from the Iranian Ministry of Agriculture that mentions “especially essential goods and inputs for livestock”.
During the last weeks, the Persian country authorized a selective opening of the strait, which has allowed the gradual passage of ships flying the flag or destined for countries that have openly rejected the joint operation of the United States and Israel.
Some oil tankers and merchant ships linked to Asian countries managed to cross after diplomatic negotiations and under a scheme strictly controlled by the Islamic Republic, while the transit of Western ships remains residual.
“We have allowed some countries that we consider friends to passlike China, Russia, India, Irak y Pakistan“said the Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi.
At least three ships linked to China – including the Indian Ocean and Arctic Ocean of the state-owned Cosco – and two Indian oil tankers have managed to navigate the strait after high-level diplomatic talks, revealed by the foreign ministries of those countries.
In the last few hours, for example, the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of Türkiye, Abdulkadir Uraloglu, has confirmed that Two Turkish-owned ships have passed through the Strait of Hormuz for the first time since the start of the conflict.
However, the Iranian parliamentary spokesperson has already warned that Iran has not the slightest intention of giving in to the pretensions of the United States and that “the path of the Islamic Republic is neither commitment nor surrender, but resistance to consolidate Iran’s position in the new world order.”
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