Iran Tightens Grip on Strait of Hormuz, Trapping 1,500 Ships

Iran has established de facto control over the Strait of Hormuz, deploying a complex multi-tiered system that involves government-to-government negotiations, rigorous vetting by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and charges of up to $150,000 for safe passage of vessels through the strategic waterway that carries approximately one-fifth of the world's oil supply. By early May, around 1,500 vessels with 22,500 sailors aboard were trapped in the Gulf as the bottleneck created by Iran's dominance transformed the conflict into what the head of the International Energy Agency described as the worst energy crisis in history. Between April 18 and May 6, fewer than 60 ships made it through the strait, compared to the normal daily average of 120 to 140 vessels. The mechanism was illustrated in the case of the 330-meter tanker Agios Fanourios I, which carried Iraqi crude oil bound for Vietnam. After being stranded off Dubai since late April, the vessel finally traversed the strait on May 10 following direct negotiations between Iraq and Iran supervised by Iraq's prime minister, eventually completing a typically five-hour journey in two days after brief detention by IRGC speedboats for an inspection. Reuters interviewed 20 sources including maritime industry officials and Iranian and Iraqi authorities to reveal how Iran has established the Persian Gulf Strait Authority to approve and tax vessel transits, with a tiered system favoring allies Russia and China, followed by countries like India and Pakistan, while the US Navy has responded by imposing its own blockade of Iranian vessels outside the strait. In a separate but related development, Iran is also considering imposing "access fees" on undersea internet cables crossing the Strait of Hormuz, a move that could generate up to 13 billion euros in revenue according to Iranian state media. European firms from France, Italy, Greece, and the UK own or co-manage at least four submarine cables passing through the area, though experts are divided on the actual threat level, with the International Cable Protection Committee noting that bandwidth through the strait accounts for less than 1 percent of global bandwidth and existing backup systems would mitigate disruptions. Analysts note that Iran has little legal basis for such charges under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which Tehran signed but never ratified, and that Egypt's precedent of charging for cables passing through its territory differs because those cables physically cross Egyptian territory.