Morning Edition · Thursday, August 6, 2026Published at 1:31 AM EDT · New York

Shipping Industry Asks the United Nations to Block Hormuz Transit Fees as Reopening Deal Nears

Eight owner groups say tolls on the waterway would break with international navigation law, while Brent crude settled at $79.45 a barrel and gold extended a weekly gain of close to 6 percent.

Eight of the world's largest shipowner and operator associations have written jointly to the United Nations to oppose any system of fees for passage through the Strait of Hormuz. They argue that charging vessels to cross the waterway would overturn a settled principle of international navigation. The signatories include the Asian Shipowners' Association, BIMCO, European Shipowners, the International Chamber of Shipping, INTERCARGO, INTERTANKO, the Cruise Lines International Association and the World Shipping Council. Their letter went to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and to Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Al Jazeera reported the groups say the fees would raise costs for consumers worldwide.

The industry's stated concern is precedent rather than price. The associations warn that if a fee system is established at Hormuz, similar charges could appear at the Strait of Malacca and Bab el-Mandeb, so a single voyage could attract several tolls, according to the letter as summarised by gCaptain and the Cyprus Mail. Dominguez said on 23 July that no mechanism in international law permits states to charge ships for crossing the strait. Iran has not accepted that reading, and the fee question is part of the wider negotiation over reopening the waterway.

The diplomacy has advanced. Iran and Oman have reached an understanding on managing traffic through the strait and are finalising a joint announcement, The National reported. Israeli business daily Globes wrote on Thursday morning that an agreement to reopen the strait is approaching. The same report said a tanker crossing the waterway had reported two explosions nearby, which shows that the security situation and the negotiation are proceeding at the same time. Al Jazeera's newsroom presented the same week as a test of the political consequences of the Iran conflict for the United States ahead of November's midterm elections.

Prices have already moved on that expectation. Brent crude fell 5.3 percent on 4 August and then settled at $79.45 a barrel on 5 August, a gain of 0.11 percent, according to Transport Topics. What gold did while oil fell is the notable part. Bullion traded near $4,278 an ounce early on Thursday, up about 0.7 percent on the day and up close to 6 percent on the week, Trading Economics data show, and silver closed at $62.79 an ounce on Wednesday, per Fortune. A falling war premium in crude that eases inflation expectations usually removes a reason to hold gold. Gold rose anyway. That points to demand driven by expectations of easier monetary policy and by appetite for a monetary asset held outside the credit system, rather than by fear of an energy price shock.

Part of a tracked trend

Hormuz Chokepoint Repricing

Recurring Gulf conflict forces energy exporters and importers to build costly workarounds around the Strait of Hormuz, permanently raising the risk premium embedded in Gulf trade and infrastructure.

Veracity: Corroborated

88/100

If true, who benefits: Shipowners, tanker charterers and oil-importing economies gain if the toll is blocked, while Iran gains a durable revenue stream and formal recognition of its authority over the waterway if it survives, and both Washington and Tehran gain from a reopening that lowers crude prices before American midterm elections.
The nuance: The letter and the Iran-Oman progress are both confirmed by Bloomberg and PBS, but the article omits that Iran frames the charge as a fee for navigational and environmental services rather than a toll, that the draft memorandum reportedly recognises Iranian sovereignty over the strait, and that Trump has publicly described charging for passage as a possible joint venture with Iran, which makes the United States a potential beneficiary rather than a neutral party.

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What this means

Two separate things are being priced at once. Crude is discounting a physical reopening of a waterway that carries roughly a fifth of global oil and gas, which lowers freight and input costs for refiners, chemicals producers and importing economies in Asia and Europe, and cuts the revenue windfall of Gulf and non-Gulf exporters alike. Gold is discounting the second-order effect, a softer inflation path that reduces the case for further Federal Reserve tightening and lowers the opportunity cost of holding an asset that pays no yield. If Iran secures a fee mechanism, the reopening arrives with a permanent charge attached, and shipowners, tanker charterers and Gulf-dependent importers absorb it through freight rates. If the fee is dropped, the cost saving passes through to cargo owners.

What to watch

Whether the Iran-Oman announcement includes any charge for passage, because a fee that survives converts a temporary war premium into a standing cost embedded in every Gulf voyage.
Whether the IMO or the United Nations Security Council takes a formal position, since a ruling either way sets the reference point other chokepoint states will cite.
Whether gold holds its gains once oil stabilises, which would separate monetary demand for bullion from the war premium that drove earlier increases.

Observations to monitor, not financial advice.

Shipping Industry Asks the United Nations to Block Hormuz Transit Fees as Reopening Deal Nears

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