Iran defies US blockade to claim tolls from Hormuz shipping

TEHRAN

Iran has banked the first proceeds from the tolls it is exacting on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a senior official said on April 23, as disruption triggered by the U.S.-Israeli war against the Islamic Republic continued to batter the world economy.

With planned peace talks hanging in the balance, more fuel-hungry airlines cancelled flights, oil prices opened higher and the keenly-watched S&P Global PMI index showed eurozone business activity shrinking for the first time in 16 months.

Iran vowed it will keep the strait closed to all but a trickle of approved vessels for as long as the United States blockades its ports, brushing off demands from President Donald Trump that it buckle to U.S. threats and both reopen Hormuz and surrender its enriched uranium.

While strikes around the region have mostly ceased since the two-week-old truce began, there has been no letup in the stand-off over the crucial trade route, with both sides seeking economic leverage, only for Trump to announce an indefinite ceasefire to create space for more Pakistani-mediated talks.

"A complete ceasefire only has meaning if it is not violated through a naval blockade," said Iran's parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who led Tehran's delegation at a first round of talks. "Reopening the Strait of Hormuz is not possible amid a blatant violation of the ceasefire."

Ghalibaf's deputy, Hamidrez Hajibabei said Iran has received its first revenue from tolls it is imposing on ships seeking to cross Hormuz, a route that in peacetime accounts for a fifth of the world's oil and gas flows and other vital commodities.

Analysts said Tehran, in particular its hardline leaders associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), believes that Iran's blockade gives it sufficient economic leverage to force Washington to back down on its main demands in eventual peace talks.

And some, such as Danny Citrinowicz of the Tel-Aviv Institute for National Security Studies, criticized Israel and the U.S. for misreading the Iranian government's position.

"Tehran has consistently demonstrated a willingness to absorb economic pain while holding firm on what it views as core national interests. There is little reason to believe this time will be different," he said, in a social media post.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they forced two ships to the Iranian shore from the Strait of Hormuz.

They identified the vessels as the Panama-flagged container ship MSC Francesca and the Liberia-flagged Epaminondas.

U.K.-based maritime security monitors confirmed that three commercial vessels had reported incidents involving gunboats in the strait.

The U.S. military's Central Command, meanwhile, said its forces blockading Iran's ports during the ceasefire had so far "directed 31 vessels to turn around or return to port.”