Tankers sail in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026.
Stringer | Reuters
Iran is preparing legislation that would impose tolls on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian state-aligned media.
Traffic in the waterway, a critical shipping route, has effectively come to a standstill since the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran began almost four weeks ago. Subsequent supply constraints, along with attacks on energy facilities and regional production shutdowns, have pushed oil prices into triple digits.
Revolutionary Guard-aligned news agency Fars said overnight that a lawmaker had told its reporter the plans to impose tolls were also a bid to officialize Iranian supervision over the Strait of Hormuz.
A draft had been prepared, but was not yet complete, Fars reported. It said lawmakers were planning to complete a draft bill by next week, so it would be ready to put to parliament.
The lawmaker said Iran would collect tolls in exchange for secure passage through the Strait of Hormuz, according to a Google translation.
Multiple media reports have emerged in recent weeks that Iran has been charging ships vast sums to bypass traffic in the waterway. CNBC has not been able to independently verify those claims.
As the conflict moves closer to its fifth week, Washington and Tehran are delivering mixed messages on whether they are in negotiations to bring the war to an end. Iran is reported to have received a 15-point peace plan from U.S. President Donald Trump, but Iranian media said Wednesday night that officials in Tehran have dismissed the proposal.
Oil was last seen trading sharply higher, with Brent crude futures jumping more than 3% higher to $165.65 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rising 3.6% to $93.59 per barrel.
Speaking to CNBC’s “Access Middle East” on Thursday, Karen Young, senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, said it was “very clear” Iran would not be able to operate a toll booth through the Strait of Hormuz.
“That’s something that the GCC states [including the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman] are not going to accept and not going to tolerate,” she said.
“Any kind of side bargains or bilateral bargains with Iran in terms of their transit abilities, I think at the longer term, is just not tenable or acceptable to the rest of the exporters in the region.”
