Iranian Envoy Reportedly Says Iran to Charge Fee for Future Crossings Through Homuz
Iran's ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali said that passage through the crucial Strait of Hormuz waterway will be granted under new terms, including a transit fee, to be determined by Iran and Oman, according to multiple media outlets on Monday.The reports, which cited Jalali's interview to Russian newspaper Izvestia, quoted him as saying that the charges were in lieu of certain services provided by Iran and Oman related to the Hormuz Strait.Energy flows through the crucial waterway, which handled almost 20% of the global oil and gas flows before the Iran war, are next to none with only a handful of tankers managing to cross the Strait in recent times, Reuters reported.Iran has stated that any permanent peace agreement should give it the right to charge ships a transit fee for passing through the Strait of Hormuz, with the amount depending on the vessel type, cargo and current conditions, the report said.The demand was first raised by Iran weeks ago following news reports that it had charged some of the few vessels to cross the Strait sums estimated at around $2 million, for safe passage.Meanwhile, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin on Saturday claimed that US energy companies had emerged as the primary beneficiaries of Hormuz's closure and added that the US was trying to alter the fundamental structure of the global energy markets to suit its interests, according to another Reuters report.Addressing the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Sechin said the strategic risks associated with the US blockade of the Strait, targeting Iran, were not fully evaluated and it ended up backfiring on the world.Sechin, a key ally of Russia President Vladimir Putin, further said a prolonged conflict in the Middle East could eventually hurt demand for oil in the long term.