On 19 April, a spokesperson for Iran’s Central Headquarters of the Holy Prophet announced the official operating rule for the Strait of Hormuz: vessels that pay faster get priority, vessels that do not are delayed. Iran has built, unilaterally and under international rejection, a working toll system. Every design choice is the inverse of what makes Suez and Panama legitimate.
At 19:00 GMT on Friday, Iran’s foreign minister declared the strait ‘completely open’ for the ceasefire. By Saturday morning, the IRGC said control had returned to ‘its previous state.’ Brent crude traded 11.5 percent below Thursday in the interim. The whipsaw is exactly what an institutional authority is designed to prevent.
On 6 April 2026, President Trump publicly endorsed the idea of charging tolls for Hormuz transit — the first sitting US president to do so. Iran is already improvising fees of $1M+ per ship. Both versions are unworkable. The Suez and Panama models show what a real chokepoint authority looks like.