Tehran has established an official body that will manage shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and collect transit fees.

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council announced the launch of an official X account for the Persian Gulf Straits Authority (PGSA), an organization that, according to Tehran, will oversee vessel transit through the Strait of Hormuz and charge fees for passage. This move formally institutionalizes a system that had reportedly been operating in practice since March.

Ships wishing to pass through the strait must apply through the PGSA’s official email address, providing ownership details, insurance documents, crew declarations, cargo declarations, and intended routes. Transit permission is granted only after approval of the application and payment of the required fee. Official tariffs have not yet been published. According to reports, some vessels have already paid up to 2 million US dollars (1.7 million euros) for transit, with payments made in Chinese yuan.

The authority functions as an administrative interface with the naval forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which physically control transit through the waterway.

The announcement follows several weeks of confusion and risks for vessels in the strait. After Tehran declared in March that it would charge for safe passage, fraudulent operators began offering unofficial transit documents in exchange for cryptocurrency.

The PGSA appears intended to replace that gray market with a single official channel. Ebrahim Azizi, chairman of the Iranian parliament’s committee on national security and foreign policy, stated in a television interview that Tehran had prepared a mechanism to manage Hormuz traffic through a designated maritime route and that further details would be announced soon.

He wrote on X that only commercial vessels cooperating with Iran would be able to use this mechanism and that fees would be charged for the service.

New billboards in the Tehran metro claim that Iran could earn up to 100 billion dollars annually from revenues related to the Strait of Hormuz.

This figure has been circulating in Iranian media alongside proposals to monetize data transmission cables passing through the waterway.

The United States, Gulf countries, and European states have rejected the legality of Iran’s fee regime. Regional states, their European allies, and Washington have repeatedly stated that free navigation through the strait must remain without additional charges or restrictions.

Before Iran effectively closed the strait to commercial shipping, approximately one-fifth of the world’s seaborne oil and liquefied natural gas supplies passed through this waterway, which is about 35 kilometers wide at its narrowest point.