The Precedent Problem: Why a Natural-Strait Fee Echoes Beyond Hormuz
Suez and Panama are man-made canals that charge tolls for built infrastructure; Hormuz is a natural strait where UNCLOS permits only service fees, not passage tolls. There is no post-1945 precedent for a coastal state charging mandatory tolls on a natural strait. If Hormuz sets one, every chokepoint — Bab-el-Mandeb, Malacca, the South China Sea — becomes vulnerable. This post reads the precedent problem and why the service-fee distinction is the firewall.