Under international law, Iran and Oman can impose tolls for passing through the Strait of Hormuz... and the United States knows this very well.

First, we need to understand something important... there isn't a single drop of water in the Strait of Hormuz owned by the international community!

How's that?!

According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, every country has the right to extend its territorial waters 12 nautical miles from its coast.

Alright... the Strait of Hormuz at its narrowest point is about 21 miles wide, so the waters of Iran to the north and the waters of Oman to the south converge and swallow the entire strait. The result? The whole strait is territorial waters, and there are no so-called international waters in it.

Now, here’s where the confusion begins. The law itself grants ships the right of innocent passage and prohibits the coastal states from obstructing this passage or imposing fees on it.

But...

Here's the difference that many people don't understand: there's a distinction between prohibited passage fees and allowed service fees.

To understand this, we need to differentiate between two types of passages:

There are artificial channels like Suez and Panama, which charge full and legitimate fees for every ship simply because they are passages dug by human effort and funds. By the way, the Suez Canal alone rakes in over 10 billion dollars in a single year.

As for natural choke points like Hormuz, Malaga, and Gibraltar, they're natural, and no one should impose a toll for passing through them.

So... how can you say that Muscat and Tehran can impose fees according to the law?!

Simply put, under maritime law, they can impose pilotage and navigational service fees. This is exactly what Turkey does in the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits under the Montreux Convention, as it makes money for pilotage, rescue, and lighthouse services, not for the passage itself.

From this angle and no other, Muscat and Tehran, if they cooperate and agree, can legally rake in substantial amounts of money.

This drives Trump crazy... and he has a dangerous card to play, which is the sanctions he will impose on Omani officials and financial institutions. This is risky for Oman, which is described as one of the most stable countries in the world.

What will happen next?

In my opinion, the Hormuz crisis will drag on, and the situation in the region won't stabilize. Iran won't give up control of the strait if a third world war breaks out.

The international community should hold Trump and his leaders accountable for the serious crisis they have created.