The National Security Committee of Iran's Majlis ratified a 12-article 'Law on Establishing Iran's Sovereignty over the strait of Hormuz' on Saturday 2 May; the full 290-seat chamber vote is pending and expected within days1. Article 1 permanently bars Israeli vessels. Ships from countries Tehran designates as 'hostile' must pay 'war reparations' before receiving a transit permit. Non-hostile vessels would pay tolls labelled as 'environmental and security services'. The Majlis is Iran's elected legislature; the National Security Committee is the body that moves defence and foreign-policy bills before the floor takes them.
Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued a written statement on 30 April announcing 'new management' of the strait; the bill is the legislative half of that framing, closing the gap between operational practice and legal claim. Where the IRGC has been collecting transit demands informally for weeks, the new law arms the Guard with domestic legal cover for whatever escalation comes next. Iranian state-wire reporting does not pin a date for the chamber vote, but committee passage in this configuration typically clears the floor without amendment.
Washington's parallel posture sits in sharp contrast. The State Department launched the Maritime Freedom Construct with CENTCOM on 30 April; on Day 65, it still has no named member countries. The UK-France Northwood coalition, run from the Permanent Joint Headquarters in northwest London, has 50-plus nations in operational planning. Tehran has just legislated against an American posture that has yet to find members and a European posture that has yet to draft engagement rules. UNCLOS, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, prohibits transit-passage tolls in principle, and the European Union cited that doctrine in rejecting Trump's earlier toll joint venture. In practice, enforcement happens at the gun, not at The Hague. The Majlis vote gives the IRGC a domestic statute to point to when the next vessel is stopped.
