PM Mitsotakis called Iran’s Hormuz tolls completely unacceptable on 8 April. Nine days later a Greek owned VLCC, the Atokos, transited the strait by paying Iran. Greek shipowners hold roughly 20 percent of world merchant tonnage. The gap between diplomatic rejection and commercial payment is exactly what a legitimate multilateral authority resolves.
On Sunday 19 April, USS Spruance fired on and disabled the Iranian flagged cargo ship Touska in the Gulf of Oman. Marines boarded and took custody. First seizure of the crisis. Tehran has vowed retaliation. The line between blockade and seizure has been crossed, and it is structurally difficult to walk back.
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.