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Iran Conflict 2026
2JUN

Majlis approves Hormuz toll bill

2 min read
09:04UTC

A key Majlis committee approved the Hormuz toll bill, advancing legislation that would permanently ban US and Israeli vessels and require fees in Iranian rial from all other shipping. Once codified, the toll becomes reversible only through domestic political process ; no future ceasefire can unwind it.

ConflictDeveloping
Key takeaway

Committee approval advances legislation that would make Hormuz's contested status a matter of Iranian domestic law, not merely military posture.

The Majlis committee approved the Hormuz toll legislation on 1 April, advancing a bill that permanently bans US and Israeli vessels from the strait and requires fees in Iranian rial from all other shipping. The bill had been drafted in parliament on Day 25, moved to committee stage on Day 32, and has now cleared committee. Full parliamentary vote, Guardian Council review, and presidential signature remain.

There is a fundamental difference between the IRGC imposing a toll because it controls a strait and the Iranian parliament enacting a law that makes the toll a statutory requirement. The first is a military fact reversible by military defeat. The second is a legal instrument reversible only by domestic political process. Iran had already demanded Hormuz sovereignty as a formal peace condition ; the legislation converts that negotiating demand into permanent law.

The bill bans US and Israeli vessels explicitly and requires fees in Iranian rial, forcing buyers to transact in a sanctioned currency. The NPT withdrawal bill is advancing on the same legislative track . Both bills are designed to survive any ceasefire: a ceasefire can stop the shooting, but it cannot repeal domestic Iranian legislation.

The IRGC's toll system had already been operating since around Day 12, with Chinese state ships paying and crossing . Codifying the practice into permanent law removes any ambiguity about whether a future Iranian government could unilaterally rescind it. If Trump withdraws in two to three weeks without securing this bill's reversal, the US leaves behind a legal architecture that makes Hormuz permanently contested.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

The Iranian parliament is voting on a law that would permanently charge ships money to use the Strait of Hormuz ; a narrow channel through which about one in five barrels of the world's oil passes. Right now, Iran is blocking the strait militarily during the war. This law would make that blockade permanent and legal under Iranian law, even after the war ends. American and Israeli ships would be banned outright. This matters because there is a big difference between Iran blocking the strait with soldiers, which can be reversed, and Iran blocking it with a law, which can only be reversed by Iran itself choosing to change the law.

Deep Analysis
Root Causes

The toll bill was drafted as a direct response to US and Israeli strikes on Iranian infrastructure . It converts an emergency military response into a permanent economic instrument, institutionalising the leverage Iran discovered it holds over global energy markets.

What could happen next?
  • Precedent

    First instance of a state attempting to codify transit fees for an international strait into domestic law, potentially triggering a global UNCLOS legal challenge.

    Long term · Assessed
  • Consequence

    A ceasefire that leaves the Hormuz toll law in place fails to address the economic cause of the oil price spike.

    Medium term · Assessed
  • Risk

    Guardian Council and presidential signature stages create multiple veto points, but each ratification stage makes repeal politically harder.

    Short term · Reported
First Reported In

Update #54 · Trump declares victory and withdrawal

Axios· 1 Apr 2026
Read original
Different Perspectives
Lloyd's of London war-risk underwriters
Lloyd's of London war-risk underwriters
Lloyd's kept its Hormuz war-risk designation unchanged at $10-14 million per voyage even as Brent spiked 7%, holding the split from futures that has run since late May. Underwriters require a Security Council resolution or government certification, not a presidential phone call.
Gulf Cooperation Council states
Gulf Cooperation Council states
Gulf states, having written to the IMO rejecting Iran's Hormuz transit authority, watched a fresh missile exchange land on Kuwaiti soil. Riyadh and Abu Dhabi remain caught between US security guarantees and Iranian fire, with no Gulf state co-belligerent except Kuwait.
China
China
Beijing stayed out of the diplomatic rupture, sending no envoy and offering no public position on the suspended talks. China keeps its bilateral energy corridor with Tehran while declining the exposure of a mediating role Trump barred it from anyway.
Kuwait
Kuwait
Kuwait's air defences engaged two Iranian ballistic missiles aimed at US forces late on 31 May, the second interception in days after invoking Article 51. Repeated strikes test whether Kuwait's politics can sustain hosting US forces as a de facto co-belligerent.
Lebanon and Hezbollah
Lebanon and Hezbollah
Lebanon announced a partial ceasefire under which Hezbollah pledged to stop attacking Israel, the concrete output of Trump's call. Beirut heads to Washington on 3 June with Israeli forces still inside the south, testing whether the truce survives contact.
Israel under Netanyahu
Israel under Netanyahu
Netanyahu stood down the planned Beirut operation under Trump's pressure but kept his ground advance running toward the Zaharani river, the deepest incursion in 25 years, and disputed Trump's claim that troops had turned around. Israel signalled the halt is tactical, not a wind-down.