The Toll Booth at the Throat of World Trade

<p>In late February 2026, Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz to foreign shipping. What began as a chaotic wartime closure has, in the past few days, hardened into something more consequential: an official sovereign toll regime, codified in Iranian law, and priced in cryptocurrency.On May 18, Iran operationally launched the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, a formal state bureaucracy with its own internet domain (pgsa.ir), account on X, and contact email. Since then, Tehran has delineated a &#8220;management supervision area&#8221; across the strait and announced a transit-permit scheme that converts Hormuz from an international waterway into a vetted toll plaza.Under the</p> <p>The post <a href="https://warontherocks.com/the-toll-booth-at-the-throat-of-world-trade/">The Toll Booth at the Throat of World Trade</a> appeared first on <a href="https://warontherocks.com">War on the Rocks</a>.</p>