Iran's Fars News Agency says reports that ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz will be charged a fixed fee of 3% or 7% of cargo value are false. The payment amount will be determined based on the services each vessel receives during transit, according to the agency.
Fars News Agency, Iran's semi-official news agency, issued a statement Thursday evening denying reports that vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz will be charged a fixed percentage of cargo value. The agency said the payment amount will be determined based on the services each vessel receives during transit, contradicting earlier reports that cited fixed fees of 3% or 7%.
The denial comes hours after a flurry of reports from the Strait of Hormuz negotiations. At 13:12 Jerusalem, an Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran seeks 5–7% of cargo value, with Chinese ships exempt. Minutes later, an additional report added Russia to the exemption list. Iran then officially announced its intention to collect tolls, followed by reports that Oman would demand 3% and that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps may be leaking details to undermine the talks. The Fars denial appears to be a direct response to the fixed-percentage figures circulated in those reports.
The service-based fee framing is not new. As The Zioneer reported on June 15, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said vessels would be charged for 'navigation, insurance, and environmental protection services' — effectively maintaining a payment regime under a different label. Earlier, on June 7, Fars had reported that Iran had begun collecting up to $2 million per ship, with some payments made in cryptocurrency or barter. The United States and Gulf states have rejected any form of Iranian-imposed fees, viewing them as an unacceptable monetization of an international waterway, as The Zioneer reported on August 5.
What remains unclear is whether the service-based fees will amount to similar percentages in practice, and whether the Fars denial represents a genuine correction or a tactical shift in messaging. The IRGC's alleged role in leaking details, as reported by i24, suggests internal Iranian divisions over the toll policy. No official government statement from Tehran has clarified the final fee structure.
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