Iran’s ‘Tehran toll’ docket forces other tankers to pay millions to leave Strait of Hormuz

DOHA, Qatar — Call it the world’s most dangerous airport.

Iran is forcing oil tankers to take a new route through the Strait of Hormuz through a narrow passage controlled by the Revolutionary Guard, some ships charge millions of dollars to sail, according to marine data shared with NBC News.

The new system – dubbed the “Tehran toll booth” by transport industry experts – shows Iran is still firmly in control of the vital waterway despite heavy strikes in the country, and may be looking to strengthen that control in the long term.

Before the US and Israel launched their bombing campaign on Feb. 28, about 110 ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz every day, data from Lloyd’s List Intelligence shows. Since then, that number has dropped to less than 10 a day, according to the London-based maritime intelligence agency.

Instead of sailing through the center, those ships are now taking a new route that enters Iranian waters and passes through the strong point between the islands of Qeshm and Larak, Tomer Raanan, a maritime risk analyst with the shipping magazine Lloyds List, told NBC News on Wednesday.

“Anything we can see coming out of this carnage right now is going through this narrow channel in Iranian territory, where the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is verifying the ship’s details and it’s almost like a toll,” Raanan said.

At least 25 ships have taken the new route — less than 20 miles from Iran’s main military base in the port of Bandar Abbas — since March 13, according to Lloyd’s List. Among them was a Chinese tanker called Bright Gold, which set sail on March 23.

A video posted that day on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, by one of Bright Gold’s crew and verified by NBC News, shows the ship passing between the two islands.

“In a few days, American troops may come here. This may be a major battleground,” a member of the group said in the video, pointing to Iranian skyscrapers in the distance.

The video ends with the unnamed sailor saying it is too dangerous to continue filming.

Raanan said Lloyd’s List knew of at least two ships that had paid in Chinese yuan to cross the strait. It does not appear that Iran has established a consistent policy, he added.

But Jasem Mohamed al-Budaiwi, of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a six-nation Gulf Arab group, said on Thursday that Iran was legitimately charging for safe passage through the shipping terminal, which is vital to the world’s energy supply.

Iranian state media also reported that the country’s parliament is preparing a law that would legalize road tolls.

“We provide its security, and it is natural that ships and oil tankers should pay these costs,” lawmaker Mohammadreza Rezaei Kouchi was quoted as saying by state-affiliated news agencies Fars and Tasnim, both of which are close to the Revolutionary Guard.

His comments came days after Alaeddin Boroujerdi, a member of Iran’s national security committee, suggested on state television that the $2 million fee would demonstrate Iran’s authority over the waterway.

Israel said on Thursday it had killed Alireza Tangsiri, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s marines and the commander responsible for mines and countermeasures.

Before his death, Iran was believed to be responsible for attacking at least 18 ships in and around the Persian Gulf since the war broke out, according to data compiled by the International Maritime Organization. In the worst incident, four sailors were killed on a tugboat while sailing through the Strait of Hormuz on March 6.

In a letter to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres this week, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the waterway remains open to “non-hostile vessels” on the condition that they act “in cooperation with the relevant Iranian authorities”.

Statements from the Iranian government suggest that it now intends to turn its short-term control of the war into a long-term reality. On Thursday, it released five conditions that it says will need to be met before it agrees to end the war.

Among them, “respect for Iran’s sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.”