Iran is drafting a law to impose transit fees on vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz , to be paid in its national currency, according to a senior parliamentarian, as the US warned it would not accept such a move.
Ibrahim Azizi, head of Iran’s parliamentary National Security Committee, said the draft law on "safe passage" through the strait stipulates that transit fees would be paid in Iranian rials.
"According to the draft law prepared by parliament, transit fees through the Strait of Hormuz will be paid in rials, Iran’s national currency," he said in remarks on state television on Friday, adding that once approved, the strait would come under "full control" of Iran’s armed forces.
He also pointed to the possibility of a cooperation agreement with Oman, whose Musandam exclave is located on the other side of the strait, regarding the management of the vital waterway.
The proposal comes as flows through the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of global oil consumption passes, have been severely disrupted by the US-Israel war on Iran.
Iran closed the strait early in the conflict as a retaliatory measure against US-Israel strikes.
Production stoppages and attacks on energy infrastructure have compounded the impact, leading to a sharp drop in supply.
Traders say there are still restrictions on shipping through the strait, with no clear signs of a sustained resumption of flows since a ceasefire was announced earlier this week.
US President Donald Trump warned Tehran against imposing such fees, saying in a post on Truth Social: "There are reports that Iran is charging oil tankers that pass through the Strait of Hormuz. They had better not be doing that, and if they are, they had better stop now!"
The disruption has fuelled concerns about a tightening global oil market.
The International Energy Agency previously estimated that the war reduced supplies of crude oil by around 11 million barrels per day until the end of March, while analysts at ANZ said the market had effectively lost about nine million barrels per day.
Analysts told Reuters that the shock to global production is likely to push the oil market into a supply deficit this year, reversing earlier expectations of a surplus.
They expect demand to exceed supply by an average of 750,000 barrels per day in 2026, compared to a projected surplus of 1.63 million barrels per day in a previous forecast.
The market is likely to see its largest deficit in the second quarter, at around three million barrels per day, before returning to a surplus later in the year. However, analysts warned that the scale of the deficit will depend on how long disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz persist.
Oil prices have already risen by around 50 percent due to the conflict, with analysts raising their forecast for Brent crude in 2026 by about 30 percent to $82.85 per barrel.
A return to pre-war production levels is expected to take months, depending on the extent of damage to oil fields and infrastructure, as well as how freely shipments can pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
Even under more optimistic scenarios, analysts say production is likely to recover only partially in the near term, warning that operational disruptions, damaged infrastructure and export bottlenecks mean "the recovery is unlikely to be smooth".