US Secretary of State Rejects Iran's Plan to Toll Ships in Strait of Hormuz

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on June 24 affirmed that Iran will not be permitted to levy tolls or fees on vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz in any final agreement with Washington. The statement exposed one of the largest contradictions in negotiations aimed at ending months of conflict in the Middle East.

The controversy followed Iran's announcement that it would temporarily suspend tolls in the strait within its territorial waters for 60 days while talks with the US continue in Switzerland. This suggested Tehran could impose fees after the negotiation period ends.

Washington and Tehran signed a preliminary deal in Switzerland this week to cease hostilities and launch a 60-day diplomatic process focused on sanctions relief, Iran's nuclear program, and the future governance of the Strait of Hormuz.

Pakistan, which mediated alongside Qatar, said talks to end the four-month US-Israel-Iran war are expected to resume early next week, possibly on Tuesday.

The future of Hormuz emerged as a key sticking point after Iran closed the waterway during the war, severely disrupting shipping through one of the world's most critical energy chokepoints and causing oil prices to spike. In peacetime, one-fifth of the world's oil and natural gas from Gulf producers transits this route.

In April, the US imposed a corresponding naval blockade on Iranian naval ports to prevent Iranian oil exports.

Although some vessels have traversed the strait since the US-Iran agreement was signed last week, uncertainty remains over whether Tehran intends to apply permanent transit or service fees to shipping operators using the route.

US and Iranian Positions

On Friday, Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Administration (PGSA) said planned fees on vessels using the waterway would be suspended during the 60-day negotiations under a signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the US.

Earlier this week, Iran and Oman issued a joint statement saying they would study the future management of the trade route and possible fees for services provided there, while maintaining their claim of sovereignty over territorial waters adjacent to the strait.

Speaking at the start of a regional tour in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Rubio dismissed the idea of transit fees. “That is an international waterway. No country is allowed to charge fees or tolls on an international waterway,” he said, adding that he believes “all countries in this region would agree.”

However, Iran's chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, signaled that Tehran considers a post-war agreement fundamentally different from the pre-conflict status quo. Experts also suggest Iran will not relinquish control of the strait, its biggest leverage in the conflict with the US. “Hormuz will never return” to its pre-war state, Ghalibaf said, despite both sides agreeing on Monday to establish a “communication mechanism” to keep the waterway open.

What Does International Law Say?

International law protects the right of transit through strategic waterways like the Strait of Hormuz, preventing coastal states from imposing explicit fees solely for passing through international shipping lanes, even if they traverse territorial waters. However, states can charge for specific services, including inspection, navigation assistance, security measures, and certain insurance requirements.

Examples include fees related to transit through the Suez and Panama Canals, as well as some services provided at Turkey's Bosporus and Dardanelles straits.

Mohammad Reza Farzanegan, an economist at Germany's Philipps-University Marburg, told Al Jazeera last month that Iran, like Turkey, could justify a negotiated mechanism for transit fees or service-based contributions through natural straits as payment for maintaining safe passage, reducing environmental risks, and providing predictability on a waterway supporting global energy, food, and technology supply chains.

A key difference, however, is that while those waterways cross a single country's territory in each case, the Strait of Hormuz passes through the territorial waters of both Iran and Oman and connects to seas used by the UAE and other Gulf states. Nader Habibi, an Iranian-American economist, told Al Jazeera: “This type of arrangement is unprecedented and would not succeed without full coordination between the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries and Iran, with approval from major international powers like China and the US.”

How Many Ships Are Currently Transiting the Strait?

Ship movements through the Strait of Hormuz remain well below pre-war levels, when 120 to 140 vessels passed daily, including tankers carrying about 20 million barrels of oil from the Gulf. As the strait begins to reopen, Oman said it is working with the UN's International Maritime Organization (IMO) on interim arrangements to facilitate safe transit, while launching an evacuation operation for over 11,000 seafarers stranded in the region after the conflict trapped hundreds of ships for months.

Traffic is also hampered by concerns over mines in the central shipping channels used by international vessels before the war. The Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC), comprising representatives from the US and other maritime partners, has warned ships to avoid the area “due to the existence of mines.” Other countries, including Japan, are considering whether to send ships to help clear mines from the strait.

While Iran never confirmed the presence of mines in the strait, when it first published a waterway map for ships approved to transit during the conflict, it ordered vessels to stay close to its coastline to avoid potential mines. Ships previously traveled much closer to the Omani coast.

Could the Strait Fee Dispute Break the Peace Deal?

Mostafa Khoshcheshm, a professor at the University of Applied Sciences in Tehran, told Al Jazeera that Iran is unlikely to abandon plans for long-term service fees in the strait. “Under the MoU, Iran will not collect service fees for 60 days, but afterward, Iran will certainly do so,” Khoshcheshm said. He noted that many Iranians were unhappy that Tehran agreed to suspend fees during negotiations. “The money is not really the core issue. The point here is how to impose your new protocols in the region. This is extremely important for Iranians.”

Cyrus Schayegh, a professor of history and international politics at the Geneva Graduate Institute, told Al Jazeera that the success of any new administrative arrangement will depend heavily on regional support. “I think this is a very big question, and the biggest question is whether they can sell it to the UAE. I think the UAE would need to be substantially involved for any new kind of authority to actually work.”

More broadly, he said, the future of Hormuz is part of a wider debate about the post-war Gulf security architecture. “It is just one piece of a much larger puzzle,” Schayegh said, adding that some regional states now accept that Iran has increased its deterrence capability after the conflict.

Other Unresolved Issues

Hormuz is not the only serious obstacle to a peace deal. Questions also remain about the future of Iran's nuclear program, with Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs, saying that access for international inspectors to nuclear facilities damaged during the war will only be addressed as part of a final agreement with Washington. His comments came after US President Donald Trump claimed Iran had agreed to the “highest level” of nuclear inspections. Iranian officials insist no commitments were made in Switzerland regarding Tehran's nuclear program and say they did not meet representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), including Director General Rafael Grossi.

Regional security remains another major disagreement, with Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz insisting that Israeli forces will not withdraw from southern Lebanon “even if the US asks.” Meanwhile, Ghalibaf identified the withdrawal of foreign military forces from the Middle East as one of Tehran's strategic goals in the negotiations.

The future of Iran's frozen assets is also a sticking point, with Trump indicating that Washington is reluctant to directly release large sums of Iranian money, citing concerns it could ultimately benefit the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Instead, he proposed a mechanism under which some funds would be used to buy US goods. “Food is badly needed in Iran, and we will buy it for them exclusively from the US,” Trump said. Iran has not confirmed plans to do this.