Overview
- Iran has created a Persian Gulf Strait Authority and introduced requirements for ships to register and take Iranian insurance with officials saying fees could follow after the 60‑day period.
- A reported Iranian drone or projectile strike on a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Oman prompted the International Maritime Organization to suspend its coordinated evacuation and transit plan to reassess safety guarantees.
- Oman and the IMO opened a temporary coastal corridor that some ships used, including the tanker Stoic Warrior, even as the IRGC and Tehran warned only Iran‑designated routes are safe and threatened action against deviations.
- The United States has rejected any passage fees for an international waterway while shipping companies face a live choice between complying with Iran’s new rules and risking breaches of Western sanctions; markets reacted with a renewed rise in oil prices.
- The moves test the fragile 60‑day US‑Iran framework, raise legal questions under international law about tolls in straits, and could reshape insurance, routing and regional diplomacy if the policies remain in place after negotiations end.