The Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) text, published 17 June, bans "tolls" on Strait of Hormuz passage, then invokes the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Article 26(2), to recast the charges as "maritime navigation services"1. That article forbids fees on innocent passage but permits charges for specific services rendered to a ship, so a renamed toll becomes lawful revenue. Management is handed jointly to Iran and Oman, and the charge-free window runs 60 days only.
The body collecting the money does not go away. The Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA), the body Iran's Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) created on 5 May that levied up to $2 million per tanker, is not dissolved under the deal. It survives under a quieter label, the 60-day clock counting down to the charge's return. Iran asserted Hormuz sovereignty and collected paid passage as early as 15 June, foreshadowing the framing the text now formalises.
Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi put it plainly: "Charges for services provided will be collected," naming navigation, environmental protection and insurance. Counting from a signing date of roughly 15-16 June, the fees could resume as early as mid-August. The party with the largest exposure to those fees, Saudi Arabia, holds no seat in the Iran-Oman mechanism that will set them.
