The Strait of Hormuz's future is unsettled even as more ships venture
through
[June 24, 2026] By
WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS and MAE ANDERSON
NEW YORK (AP) — Ship traffic has picked up in the Strait of Hormuz since
Iran and the U.S. signed an interim deal to end a war that constricted
global oil supplies and fueled inflation, but questions surrounding
control of the vital waterway and whether vessels will be charged tolls
to cross it could interfere with negotiations to forge a lasting peace.
Tehran and Washington clashed over the Strait of Hormuz again this past
weekend. Citing Israel's latest attacks on Lebanon, Iran declared that
it reclosed the strait. The U.S. was quick to contest that. Maritime
tracking data showed that dozens of ships passed through on Saturday and
Sunday, though far fewer than the daily average before the war.
President Donald Trump suggested the U.S. might impose its own tolls on
strait crossings if a final deal with Iran was not reached during the
countries’ 60-day negotiating period. Passage was free before the war,
but Iran last month established a new governmental authority to collect
money from ships and has said it still expects vessels to register with
the Persian Gulf Strait Authority.
No one country owns the Strait of Hormuz, which borders both Iran and
Oman. Last week's memorandum of understanding allowed Iran to manage the
strait for now while holding discussions with Oman and six other Gulf
states “to define the future administration and maritime services” of
the waterway. Iran agreed not to charge transiting vessels tolls for 60
days.
Legal experts and maritime associations have repeatedly stressed that a
toll regime would upend decades of international trade precedent
involving the world's waters. If the U.S. and Iran cement a final deal,
analysts say it could take months for the flow of oil, natural gas,
fertilizer and other commodities to return to prewar levels.
Here's a closer look at the status of the Strait of Hormuz:
Ships are moving but not at the prewar pace
Data and analytics company Kpler said its tracking confirmed 131 ships
traveled through the strait between Friday and Monday, including 39
crossings on Monday. In contrast, about 100 to 130 vessels a day made
the journey before the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran in late
February, and Tehran responded with its own attacks and effective
closure of the waterway.
As part of the provisional Iran-U.S. framework, Iran said it would
conduct demining work within 30 days and remove “technical and military
obstacles” to shipping. Iran's lead negotiator and parliament speaker,
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, told Iranian state media Monday that his
country would manage the strait in accordance with international
maritime law.
The main central route of the Strait of Hormuz is still mined and
remains closed. Ships have been using the smaller northern route, which
goes through Iranian waters, and the southern route, which goes through
Omani waters. But “caution is still clear” in the many vessels either
sticking to Iran's prescribed route or trying to conceal their positions
and identities by keeping their transponders off, Kpler said.
Both Iran and US have threatened tolls
Early in the war, Iran threatened to attack ships that tried to use the
Strait of Hormuz without its approval and began vetting vessels in a
pay-to-pass scheme that shipping analysts dubbed the “tollbooth.” Iran
also demanded in early April the right to collect tolls as a
precondition for relinquishing its chokehold on the strait.
Although the Trump administration imposed sanctions on the Persian Gulf
Strait Authority late last month to oppose what Treasury Secretary Scott
Bessent described as Tehran's attempt to extort global maritime trade,
the president on Saturday suggested the U.S. could impose its own tolls
for “services rendered as the Guardian Angel to the countries of the
Middle East.”
The administration has not provided details on how the U.S. would apply
any charges on ships if talks with Iran do not yield a completed
agreement. Shipping analysts have expressed surprise at how much control
over the strait the inital agreement gave Iran.
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Tankers and cargo vessels are seen in the Gulf of Oman, along
shipping routes linking the Strait of Hormuz and the Arabian Sea,
Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (AP Photo)
 “Almost all the power goes into Iran
to determine the arrangements going forward in the future. This is
what we really need clarity on,” said Philip Belcher, marine
director of Intertanko, a trade group for independent tanker owners,
said Thursday.
Experts say tolls would violate maritime law
Collecting tolls in the strait could violate an enduring principle
of international maritime trade: freedom of peaceful navigation. The
concept was codified by the United Nations’ Convention on the Law of
the Sea, which took effect in 1994.
The treaty provides ships the right of unimpeded “transit passage”
through more than 100 straits worldwide, including the Strait of
Hormuz. It only applies to natural waterways, so authorities can
charge fees for ships to traverse man-made waterways such as the
Panama Canal and the Suez Canal.
Oman is among the more than 170 countries that have ratified the
U.N. convention, but the U.S. and Iran are not. Maritime
associations have argued that all nations remain subject to the
treaty's provisions.
James Kraska, a U.S. Naval War College professor of international
maritime law, notes that the U.S. and Iran are both members of the
International Maritime Organization, the U.N. agency that oversees
safety and security measures in international shipping. Both
countries also are parties to the International Convention for the
Safety of Life at Sea, a treaty that governs standards for building
and operating ships.
In straits like Hormuz, fees can only be applied at established
ports of entry or for services specifically requested by a ship,
such as specialized navigation aid through hazardous areas,
according to Kraska, who is also a visiting professor at Harvard Law
School..
“If Iran wants to apply those to everybody, then it has to adjust
the traffic separation scheme rules, and that can only be done
through the member states of the International Maritime
Organization,” he said.
“You can't impose fees for a ship exercising its right of transit
passage,” Kraska added. “So the bottom line is, no — fees in this
context are just not lawful.”
Countries sometimes have joined forces to share the costs of
maintaining of a strait, he noted. For example, Indonesia, Malaysia,
and Singapore worked with the International Maritime Organization
and later other countries to develop such an agreement for the
Strait of Malacca, but it involved negotiated contributions from the
states using the passage, not fees on individual ships.
Disruptions could continue for months ahead
Conditions in the Strait of Hormuz have escalated or deteriorated
quickly over the course of the war. While the outlook for shipping
has improved since the U.S. and Iran pledged to extend their
ceasefire, “there is a degree of nervousness around the situation,”
said Marcus Baker, the global head of marine, cargo and logistics at
insurance brokerage and risk management company Marsh.
“As far as the insurance position is concerned, there’s a good deal
of support for ship owners that are trying to move out” during this
period, but the interim deal between Iran and the U.S. does not
include language for keeping the strait toll-free beyond the
negotiating window, Baker said.
“We’ll see what the next six weeks brings us,” he said.
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