US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has stated that Iran will not be permitted to charge tolls or fees for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz under any final agreement with Washington, exposing a major point of friction in negotiations aimed at ending months of conflict across the Middle East.
The dispute comes after Iran announced it would waive planned transit fees through the strait for 60 days while talks with the United States continue in Switzerland, suggesting charges could be introduced once the negotiating period expires.
Washington and Tehran signed a preliminary agreement in Switzerland this week to halt hostilities and launched a 60-day diplomatic process focused on sanctions relief, Iran’s nuclear programme and the future administration of the Strait of Hormuz.
Pakistan, which helped mediate the talks alongside Qatar, has said negotiations to end the four-month US-Israel war on Iran are expected to resume early next week, likely on Tuesday.
The future of Hormuz has already emerged as a key sticking point after Iran effectively closed the waterway during the war, severely disrupting maritime traffic through one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints and causing the price of oil to soar. In peacetime, one-fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas supplies are shipped through the waterway.
Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has signalled that Tehran views the post-war arrangement as fundamentally different from the status quo that existed before the conflict. Experts also say that Iran will not give up control of the strait, which has proved to be its greatest point of leverage in the conflict with the US.
International law protects the right of transit through strategic waterways such as the Strait of Hormuz, preventing coastal states from imposing explicit tolls simply for passage through international shipping lanes. However, countries can charge for specific services, including inspections, navigation assistance, security measures and certain insurance-related requirements.
Experts suggest Iran could justify a negotiated mechanism for transit fees or service-based contributions, similar to fees associated with the Suez Canal, Panama Canal, and Turkey's Bosporus and Dardanelles straits. However, a key difference is that the Strait of Hormuz passes through the territorial waters of both Iran and Oman, and connects to waters used by the UAE and other Gulf states.
Ship movements through the Strait of Hormuz remain well below prewar levels, when between 120 and 140 ships transited the passage each day. Traffic has also been held back by ongoing concerns about the possible presence of sea mines in the central shipping channels.
Mostafa Khoshcheshm, a professor at the University of Applied Sciences in Tehran, told Al Jazeera that Iran is unlikely to abandon plans to introduce long-term service fees in the strait. “The money is not the real core of the issue,” he said. “The point here is how to impose your new protocols in the region.”
Hormuz is far from the only serious obstacle to a peace deal. Questions also remain over the future of Iran’s nuclear programme, regional security, and the fate of Iran’s frozen assets.
Source: www.aljazeera.com