Anonymousabout 3 hours ago
Iran has imposed an unprecedented toll regime on the Strait of Hormuz — charging up to $2 million per tanker in cryptocurrency or Chinese yuan — after closing the waterway to Western-allied shipping following the US-Israeli air campaign that began in February 2026. The toll system, now codified in Iranian law, has fractured the global response: China and India are negotiating passage while the US demands the strait reopen "without limitation, including tolls" as a condition of a fragile two-week ceasefire, raising questions about whether 400 years of freedom-of-navigation principles can survive a war that most international law scholars consider legally questionable.