Iran MP plans for strategic management of Strait of Hormuz using the rial

The chair of Iran's parliamentary infrastructure commission has set out the detailed terms of a parliamentary proposal to manage transit through the Strait of Hormuz, including a complete ban on Israeli-linked shipping and tolls payable in rials.

Rezaei Kouchi, head of the Majlis infrastructure commission, posted the terms of the proposal on X on April 20. 

The plan would impose an absolute ban on the passage of any vessel or cargo belonging to or linked to what it called "the fake Zionist regime", referring to Israel, through the Strait of Hormuz.

Vessels from "hostile countries" see the US would be banned from passage at the discretion of the Supreme Council of National Security (SNSC), the proposal said.

Ships or cargo from countries that have taken hostile actions against the "axis of resistance" would also be barred.

Other vessels would be permitted to pass after obtaining permits and paying fees for "guidance, supervision and security." All such payments would be made in Iranian rials, the country's national currency.

Any country that participated to any extent in what the proposal called the imposed war would be allowed to pass only after paying compensation for damages caused.

The proposal would, if enacted, formalise Iran's wartime control over a waterway through which around a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes. The terms align with positions already set out by senior Iranian officials, including the foreign ministry's statement that hostile shipping must remain barred until reparations are paid.

The infrastructure commission's intervention comes after Iran reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping for the remainder of the Pakistan-brokered two-week ceasefire on April 17.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced the move on X, drawing criticism from hardline media for the perceived lack of clarity regarding the attached conditions.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been confirmed by US Central Command as the body responsible for managing the strait.

Tehran has warned that continuation of the US naval blockade on Iranian ports would be treated as a violation of the ceasefire and would prompt the strait to be closed again.

US President Donald Trump on April 19 threatened to strike "every single power plant and every single bridge in Iran" if Tehran did not accept a US-proposed deal, accusing Iranian forces of firing at French and British vessels in the strait.