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The Iranian parliament is seeking to pass a law to collect tolls for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for the global oil trade that has effectively been shut by Tehran.
US President Donald Trump said Iran was desperate to make a deal to end nearly four weeks of fighting, contradicting Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who said his country was reviewing an American proposal but had no intention of holding talks to end the conflict.
Mr Trump on Thursday said Iranian negotiators were “begging” for a deal despite what he described as having been “militarily obliterated,” rejecting Tehran's public stance that it is only reviewing Washington's proposal.
“They better get serious soon, before it is too late, because once that happens, there is no turning back, and it won't be pretty,” he said in a Truth Social post.
The Fars news agency quoted the chairman of the parliamentary civil affairs committee as saying that Iran must collect fees to ensure the security of ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
There was no mention of the amount that would be charged but the draft law is under preparation.
“We are looking for a plan in the parliament in which Iran's sovereignty, dominance and supervision in the Strait of Hormuz are legally seen and a source of income is also created for the country by collecting tolls,” Mohammad Kouchi, an Iranian politician, told the agency. “The Strait of Hormuz is also a corridor. We ensure its security and ships and tankers naturally have to pay its tolls.”
The plan was not final yet and would be presented next week, he added.
The fallout from the war on Iran, which has caused the worst energy shock in history, has spread far beyond the region. With the strait, a conduit for a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas, effectively closed, fuel shortages are occurring around the globe.
Former US national security adviser John Bolton said that Iran’s ability to shut the strait is becoming “ever more palpable” as the war continues.
Oil prices have been further affected by conflicting claims by the US and Iran over whether talks were held or not.
Mr Araghchi said that while there had been no dialogue or negotiation with the US, messages had been exchanged through intermediaries.
“Messages being conveyed through our friendly countries and us responding by stating our positions or issuing the necessary warnings is not called negotiation or dialogue,” Mr Araghchi said in a state television interview on Wednesday. “It is simply an exchange of messages through our friends.”
Mr Trump, speaking later on Wednesday at an event in Washington, said Iranian leaders “are negotiating”.
“They want to make a deal so badly, but they're afraid to say it because they will be killed by their own people. They're also afraid they'll be killed by us,” Mr Trump said.
He has not identified who the US is negotiating with in Iran, with many high-ranking officials among the thousands of people killed across the Middle East since the US and Israel's attack on February 28 and Tehran's retaliation against Israel, American bases and Gulf states.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has said Israel has killed Alireza Tangsiri, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy.
“The man who was directly responsible for the terrorist act of bombing and blocking the Strait of Hormuz for shipping, was blown up and foiled,” Mr Katz said.
Tehran has warned the US against seizing an Iranian island in the Gulf, threatening further retaliation. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said he had intelligence reports that such a mission was being planned.
The island was not named but it is suspected he was referring to Kharg, the heartland of Iran's oil refining industry. Mr Ghalibaf said the US had support from an unnamed regional country and that it would strike back on that neighbour's “vital infrastructure” if the seizure went ahead.
