One of Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtab Khamenei’s advisers compared control of the strategic Strait of Hormuz to having an “atomic bomb” on Friday. At the same time, Mohammad Mochber declared that Iran will not give up this control, TASR reports, according to an AFP report.
- One of Khamenei’s advisers compared control of the Strait of Hormuz to an atomic bomb.
- After the outbreak of war, Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz and caused chaos in the market.
- Tehran plans to change the legal regime of the strait even unilaterally, if necessary.
- Iran has created an authority to approve transit through the strait and collect tolls.
- The United States has described the charging of transport as unacceptable and is asking for an extension of the cease-fire.
According to the adviser, Iran has for a long time “neglected” its privileged position regarding this strategic waterway important for the transportation of oil and gas. Tehran closed it after the outbreak of the Middle East war, which began with US-Israeli attacks on Iran, causing chaos in markets and stranding hundreds of vessels.
“Global Economic Lever”
“The Strait of Hormuz represents an opportunity as rare as the atomic bomb,” Mochber said in a video released by the Mehr news agency. “Having a position in your hands that allows you to influence the global economy with a single decision is a really big opportunity,” he added.
Iran, according to adviser Mojtab Khamenei, does not intend to give up the “profits of this war” and will “change the (legal) regime of this strait” – if possible, through international law, and if not, it will do so unilaterally.
Introduction of tolls for passing vessels
He did not specifically mention fees for vessels to use the waterway, but the maritime magazine Lloyd’s List reported on Friday that Iran has already established an authority to approve transit through the Strait of Hormuz and collect tolls.
Iranian officials have previously mentioned the introduction of such a system, and a senior lawmaker said in April that Tehran had received its first revenue from tolls in the strait.
International pressure and a ceasefire
The United States, whose joint attacks with Israel on the Islamic Republic sparked a war in the Middle East, called tolling for traffic in the Strait of Hormuz unacceptable. The UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) did the same.
The strait has currently become the main argument in negotiations to end the war, with Iran currently considering a US proposal to extend the current ceasefire in the Persian Gulf to allow talks on a final settlement of the conflict, adds AFP.
