Iran’s ambassador to China, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, announced that new service fees will be imposed on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz once a 60-day free-passage period expires, with “special treatment” reserved for countries that maintained friendly relations during Tehran’s recent conflict. The declaration, made at the World Peace Forum in Beijing, comes amid a fragile US–Iran memorandum of understanding (MOU) that has frozen hostilities but left key obligations unmet.

Iranian officials insist that the fees represent legitimate service charges for security and environmental oversight rather than a toll, and that Tehran is collaborating with Oman on new management arrangements. However, Western diplomats and maritime analysts note that the plan is rejected by Washington and contradicts the MOU’s stipulation of free transit during the initial phase. The discord aligns with a power struggle in Tehran: the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seeks to maintain exclusive operational control over the strait and its potential revenue—estimated at up to $40 billion annually—while President Masoud Pezeshkian’s government prioritises unlocking some $6 billion in frozen assets and lifting sanctions, promised under the deal. IRGC spokesmen have threatened attacks on vessels deviating from Iranian-designated corridors, while at least eight ships have recently reversed course or diverted near the Musandam Peninsula, according to maritime tracking data.

Negotiations in Doha, hosted by Qatar, have stalled over sequencing: Tehran has not begun demining the strait, and the US has not released frozen funds. Iran also rejected a French–Omani demining initiative announced on 28 June, asserting that any clearance operations would be conducted “exclusively” by its own forces. A parallel UN-backed effort to escort ships out of the Gulf failed within a day after Iranian attacks, leaving some 600 vessels and 11,000 crew stranded. Meanwhile, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, warned Britain and France to keep European naval deployments away, framing the waterway as a joint Iranian–Omani security domain.

The 17 June MOU was intended to launch a phased process: a 60-day ceasefire and free passage, followed by demining and the unfreezing of assets, and ultimately nuclear programme talks. With neither side fulfilling its first-phase commitments, the diplomatic track remains in limbo. Mediators in Pakistan and Qatar continue shuttle diplomacy, but no date has been set for the next round of substantive talks. The strait, normally carrying one-fifth of global crude oil and LNG trade, remains under de facto Iranian restriction, with transit volumes still well below pre-war levels and energy markets braced for renewed volatility.