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Iranwire – Kazem Jalali, the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic in Moscow, has told Russia’s state news agency that Russia is exempt from paying tolls for passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Coinciding with the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, the Islamic Republic closed the Strait of Hormuz and subsequently announced that it would collect “tolls” for passage. The imposition of these tolls has been protested by countries in the southern Persian Gulf and other nations dependent on the free flow of energy through this waterway.
In this regard, Jalali explained: “We have made exceptions regarding the payment of tolls in the Strait of Hormuz, and we are striving to apply this exception to friendly countries such as Russia.”
On April 23, the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic confirmed that it had received the first revenues from “transit tolls” in the Strait of Hormuz in the form of cash foreign currency. According to Hamid-Reza Hajibabaei, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, these funds were collected under the heading of “security and insurance fees” from commercial ships and oil tankers that passed through the waterway with Iranian authorization, and have been deposited into the bank’s accounts. The amount of these tolls is variable and calculated based on the type of cargo, tonnage, and the “security risk level” of each voyage, with some reports citing figures as high as two million dollars for each supertanker.
