Skip to content
Iran Conflict 2026
2APR

Majlis approves Hormuz toll bill

2 min read
08:35UTC

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 (ID:1751). 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

Al-Arabiya (AFP wire)· 1 Apr 2026
Read original
Different Perspectives
South Korean financial markets
South Korean financial markets
South Korea, which imports virtually all its crude oil, is absorbing the war's economic transmission most acutely among non-belligerents. The second KOSPI circuit breaker in four sessions — with Samsung down over 10% and SK Hynix down 12.3% — reflects an industrial economy unable to reprice energy costs that have risen 72% in ten days. The market response indicates Korean industry cannot sustain oil above $100 per barrel without margin compression across manufacturing, semiconductors, and shipping.
Migrant worker communities in the Gulf
Migrant worker communities in the Gulf
The first confirmed civilian deaths in Saudi Arabia — one Indian and one Bangladeshi killed, twelve Bangladeshis wounded — fell on communities with no voice in the military decisions that placed them in harm's way. Migrant workers live near military installations because that housing is affordable, not by choice. Bangladesh and India face the dilemma of needing to protect nationals who cannot easily leave a war zone while depending on Gulf remittances that fund a substantial share of their domestic economies.
Azerbaijan — President Ilham Aliyev
Azerbaijan — President Ilham Aliyev
Aliyev treats the Nakhchivan strikes as a direct act of war against Azerbaijani sovereignty, placing armed forces on full combat readiness and demanding an Iranian explanation. The response is calibrated to maximise international sympathy while stopping short of military retaliation — Baku cannot fight Iran alone and needs either Turkish or NATO backing to credibly deter further strikes.
Oil-importing nations (Japan, South Korea, India)
Oil-importing nations (Japan, South Korea, India)
The Hormuz closure is an existential threat. Japan, South Korea, and India receive the majority of their crude through the strait — they will bear the heaviest economic cost of a war they had no part in.
Global South governments (Indonesia, Brazil, South Africa)
Global South governments (Indonesia, Brazil, South Africa)
Neutrality was possible when the targets were military. 148 dead schoolgirls made it impossible — no government can explain that away to its own citizens.
Turkey
Turkey
Has absorbed three Iranian ballistic missile interceptions since 4 March without invoking NATO Article 5 consultation. Each incident narrows Ankara's political room to continue absorbing without Alliance-level response.