No country is allowed to charge tolls on an international waterway
For months, more than eleven thousand sailors have drifted in an enforced limbo across the Persian Gulf, caught between two nuclear-armed powers whose conflict closed one of humanity's most vital maritime corridors. A fragile interim peace between Washington and Tehran has now opened a narrow passage home — both literally and diplomatically — as the United Nations works to restore order to the Strait of Hormuz and return these crews to their lives. Yet the agreement rests on contested ground: the two sides disagree on what they have actually promised each other, and the waterway, though reopened, has not yet regained the world's trust.
- Over 11,000 sailors have spent months anchored in a war zone, unable to leave as attacks on shipping closed the Strait of Hormuz and sent oil prices past $100 a barrel.
- A last-minute interim peace deal between the US and Iran has given the IMO a narrow window to launch a large-scale evacuation using two temporary transit routes through the strait.
- The peace itself is already fracturing at the seams — Washington insists Iran agreed to robust nuclear inspections, while Tehran publicly denies it and bars IAEA access to bombed sites.
- Iran's push to charge tolls on the international waterway has drawn a sharp rebuke from Secretary of State Rubio, exposing fresh fault lines even as the evacuation proceeds.
- Daily ship transits have resumed but remain far below pre-conflict levels, and more than two hundred vessels are still anchored and waiting — the strait is open, but confidence has not returned.
More than eleven thousand sailors are finally beginning the journey home. For months they were held in place across the Persian Gulf, their ships anchored in limbo while a war between the United States, Israel, and Iran raged around them. An interim peace agreement signed last week has allowed the UN's International Maritime Organization to launch a large-scale evacuation, extracting stranded crews and attempting to restore order to one of the world's most critical shipping lanes.
The Strait of Hormuz — a narrow passage through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil flows — had been effectively closed since late February, when attacks on shipping began. The closure drove global oil prices past one hundred dollars a barrel and disrupted the flow of energy and essential goods worldwide. For the sailors themselves, the consequences were more immediate: months of confinement aboard tankers and cargo vessels, with no certainty of when they might leave.
The IMO's secretary-general, Arsenio Dominguez, confirmed that safety guarantees had been secured and navigation conditions verified. Two temporary routes are being used, with vessels receiving individual departure instructions. Since the strait reopened on June eighteenth, at least one hundred seventy-two ships have made the crossing — including forty-two in a single day. Yet daily transits remain well below the pre-conflict average of roughly one hundred thirty-eight, signaling that confidence in the waterway has not fully returned.
The peace agreement itself is shadowed by competing narratives. President Trump declared that Iran had accepted the highest level of nuclear inspections far into the future. Iranian officials said the opposite — that the IAEA would not be permitted to inspect sites bombed by the US and Israel. American officials suggested Iran's denials were for domestic consumption. Iran's president, visiting Pakistan, stated flatly that his country would never negotiate its defensive capabilities under any circumstances.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio traveled to the Gulf to reinforce the deal with regional allies and to push back against Iran's attempt to charge tolls on strait transits, calling it a violation of international law. The statement revealed as much anxiety as confidence. More than two hundred tankers remain anchored and waiting. The waterway is open, but the disputes simmering beneath the surface — over inspections, tolls, and what each side has truly agreed to — leave the fate of those sailors, and the stability of global commerce, still unresolved.
More than eleven thousand sailors are finally going home. For months they have been trapped in the waters of the Persian Gulf, their ships anchored in limbo while a war raged around them. Now, following an interim peace agreement signed last week between the United States and Iran, the United Nations's International Maritime Organization has launched what it calls a large-scale evacuation operation to extract these stranded crews and restore some semblance of order to one of the world's most critical shipping lanes.
The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow passage between Iran and Oman through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil flows, had been effectively closed since late February when attacks on shipping began. That closure sent global oil prices soaring past one hundred dollars a barrel and strangled the flow of energy and essential goods like fertilizer to markets worldwide. The economic consequences rippled outward instantly. But for the sailors themselves—men and women aboard more than two hundred tankers and cargo vessels still waiting in the strait as of this week—the consequences were more immediate and personal. Months of confinement. Uncertainty about when, or if, they would be allowed to leave.
The evacuation is proceeding under an agreement that required careful negotiation. Arsenio Dominguez, the secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization, emphasized that safety guarantees had been secured and conditions for navigation thoroughly verified. The operation will use two temporary routes through the strait, with individual vessels receiving specific instructions for departure. The IMO has committed to issuing daily reports on how many ships successfully transit to safety. As of this week, at least one hundred seventy-two vessels have made the crossing since the strait reopened on June eighteenth, the day after the peace deal was signed. On Saturday alone, forty-two ships passed through. The numbers, however, remain far below the pre-conflict average of roughly one hundred thirty-eight daily crossings, suggesting that confidence in the waterway's stability has not yet fully returned.
But the peace agreement itself remains fragile, shadowed by disputes over its actual terms. The United States claims that Iran has agreed to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to conduct robust inspections of its nuclear weapons program. President Trump posted on social media this week declaring that Iran had accepted "highest level Nuclear inspections long into the future." Yet Iran's government tells a different story. Just hours before Trump's statement, Iranian officials said the UN watchdog would not be permitted to inspect nuclear sites that were bombed by the US and Israel in the previous year. When pressed, American officials responded by suggesting that Iran's public denials were merely for domestic consumption—that the Iranians had in fact agreed to the inspections, but felt compelled to deny it at home. Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian, visiting Pakistan this week, stated flatly that his country "will never negotiate with anyone, under any circumstances, ever, about our defensive capabilities." Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif added that ballistic missiles were not part of the agreement and were "not on the table at all."
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in the Gulf region this week to shore up the deal with regional allies and to press another American concern: Iran's push to charge tolls on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Standing in the United Arab Emirates, Rubio declared that no country has the legal right to impose fees on an international waterway. "It's an international waterway," he said. "No country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway. That's existing international law." He suggested that regional governments would naturally agree with the American position, though the statement itself revealed an anxiety that they might not.
The evacuation of those eleven thousand sailors depends entirely on the strait remaining open and passable. For Dominguez and the maritime organization, the agreement represents a turning point—a chance to end what he called "the unacceptable attacks against civilian shipping" and to restore some stability to global commerce. Yet the numbers tell a cautious story. More than two hundred tankers remain anchored in the strait, waiting. Daily transits have resumed but remain well below normal. The waterway is open, but the world has not yet returned to it with full confidence. Whether that confidence will come depends on whether the fragile agreement between Washington and Tehran can hold, and whether the disputes now simmering beneath its surface—over nuclear inspections, over tolls, over what each side has actually promised—can be resolved without reigniting the conflict that stranded those sailors in the first place.
Citações Notáveis
We have secured the necessary safety guarantees and have thoroughly verified the conditions for safe navigation to support these operations.— Arsenio Dominguez, IMO secretary-general
Iran will never negotiate with anyone, under any circumstances, ever, about our defensive capabilities.— Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does it matter that these sailors are still stranded, even now that the strait is technically open?
Because being stranded isn't just about geography. These are people who've been confined to their ships for months, unable to go home, unable to know when they'll be released. The evacuation is the first concrete sign that the conflict is actually ending, not just paused.
The US and Iran seem to be telling completely different stories about what they agreed to. How can an evacuation proceed if they can't even agree on the terms?
That's the real tension. The evacuation can happen because both sides have an interest in it—Iran wants to show it's cooperating, the US wants to demonstrate the deal works. But the deeper disputes about nuclear inspections and tolls are still unresolved. The evacuation is moving forward in the space between those disagreements.
What's the significance of the toll question? Why is Rubio making such a point of it?
Because Iran has been testing whether it can extract economic concessions by controlling the strait. If Iran can charge tolls, it gains leverage and revenue. The US is saying that's not negotiable under international law. But the fact that Rubio felt he needed to say it suggests the US isn't entirely confident the region agrees.
The numbers show ships are still waiting. Does that mean people don't trust the deal yet?
Exactly. You can reopen a waterway, but you can't force confidence back into it overnight. Two hundred tankers waiting means captains and owners are still uncertain. They're watching to see if the agreement holds before they commit their ships and crews to the passage.
What happens if the disputes over nuclear inspections or tolls flare up again?
Then you're back where you started—a closed strait, stranded sailors, oil prices spiking. The evacuation is only the first step. The real test is whether the underlying agreement can survive contact with reality.