FLASH
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The idea that Iran, or any other nation, would demand a mandatory tax from ships passing through the vital Strait of Hormuz is anathema to both neighboring Gulf Arab states and the global shipping industry.
Since 1968, when it was ratified by the International Maritime Organization, there has been a carefully crafted system by which ships pass through the strait to pick up their cargoes from ports and terminals in the Gulf. This system is known as the Traffic Sharing Scheme (TSS).
In the narrow, normally congested channel between the coastlines of Iran to the north and Oman to the south, ships entering the sea pass in one direction and ships leaving pass in the opposite direction, separated by a two-mile buffer zone to avoid collisions. It works.
But the Islamic Republic, which has managed to survive more than 20,000 combined airstrikes by the US and Israel over a period of 39 days, is now trying to change the entire paradigm of global trade in the Persian Gulf.
Instead of the pre-existing TSS, it is requiring that, when the strait is open, all ships follow a different route, determined by the IRGC Navy, forcing them to pass near its Larak and Qeshm islands.
There, Iran says, they will be checked by naval officers and will pay a fee according to the size and value of their cargo.
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