“Imposing transit fees is a violation of the rules of transit passage,” said James Kraska, a professor of international maritime law at the US Naval War College. There is no legal basis under international law for a coastal state to charge fees in an international strait like Hormuz, he added. There is little precedent for a state successfully charging for passage through an international strait. Rivaling the Suez CanalThat hasn’t stopped Iran from exploring what such a system could look like, or how lucrative it might be. At the same time, Tehran appears to be testing what a controlled system of passage could look like in practice.

Source: CNN March 28, 2026 16:10 UTC