WASHINGTON, July 13 — A proposal to impose a 20% toll on cargo transiting the Strait of Hormuz would be unprecedented under modern international law, and the legal basis for such a move is anything but settled. The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, known as UNCLOS, is the key framework here. Article 38 of the convention guarantees what’s called “transit passage” through straits used for international navigation.
In plain terms, that means ships have a right to pass through without being suspended or hampered. The United States is not a party to UNCLOS, but it recognizes this principle as customary international law — meaning it’s binding even without formal ratification.
So where would the legal authority come from? The source material points to a few potential avenues. The U.S. could assert a basis under the 1996 Iran Sanctions Act or the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, which authorized penalties on entities doing business with Iran’s central bank.
Think of it like this: the toll wouldn’t be a simple fee — it would be framed as a sanctions enforcement mechanism. Logistically, the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet could board and inspect vessels, a practice already established under the 2003 Proliferation Security Initiative, which 105 countries have joined.
The actual collection of a toll could happen through port authorities in allied Gulf states, such as the UAE’s Fujairah port or Bahrain. Alternatively, the U.S. could require ships to obtain a license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC.
History as a guide
This isn’t the first time the U.S. has leaned on secondary sanctions to squeeze Iran. In 2019, the U.S. imposed secondary sanctions on entities importing Iranian oil. The practical upshot was dramatic: Iran’s oil exports fell from 2.5 million barrels per day in 2018 to under 500,000 by 2020.
That’s a real-world example of how far-reaching these enforcement tools can be. But a toll on transit through the Strait of Hormuz is a different beast entirely.
It’s one thing to sanction a specific commodity like oil; it’s another to levy a charge on every vessel passing through one of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints.
What comes next
Legal challenges are almost certain. Iran has already taken the U.S. to the International Court of Justice over sanctions, filing a case in 2018. A toll on the Strait of Hormuz would likely face a similar challenge at the ICJ.
For now, the proposal remains a hypothetical. But the legal, logistical, and diplomatic hurdles are significant.
The question isn’t just whether the U.S. could enforce such a toll — it’s whether the legal framework exists to justify it in the first place.
Sources
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