Oil industry leaders are quietly lobbying the White House to reject a key Iranian ceasefire demand: the right to charge tolls on tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz, which handles roughly 20% of the world's oil. Industry leaders say the tolls are a sharp break from decades of free passage through the narrow waterway.
- Asked if execs are contacting the White House, an industry consultant told Politico: "Hell yes. We didn't have to do that before—and I thought we won the war. Any place you have access to the administration, you ask, what are you guys thinking?" The consultant said the response so far has been polite but noncommittal.
At a State Department meeting this week, oil representatives warned that Iran's requested toll—about $2 million per ship, plus higher insurance costs—could add roughly $2.5 million per voyage, costs likely to hit consumers. They also argued that recognizing Tehran's control over Hormuz could inspire similar tolls in other chokepoints such as the Strait of Malacca and the Bosporus. The White House, however, might be more interested in getting a piece of the action than opposing tolls. President Trump has suggested it could be a "joint venture" and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that the idea of sharing tolls is "something the president has floated," the BBC reports.
Leavitt added, however, the immediate priority is reopening Hormuz "without any limitations, whether in the form of tolls or otherwise." For now, the strait remains largely closed despite the ceasefire. Iranian authorities said Wednesday that it had been closed in response to Israeli attacks on Lebanon, the AP reports. The Wall Street Journal reports that according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, only four ships were allowed to pass Wednesday, the fewest of any day this month. Mediators say ships have to coordinate with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and arrange to pay tolls in either cryptocurrency or Chinese yuan, the Journal reports.
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