Washington reportedly offered Tehran access to frozen funds if it abandoned efforts to charge ships for passage through the Strait of Hormuz, but Iran maintained that the waterway remains under its control.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Iran rejected a Trump administration proposal that would have allowed Tehran to access billions of dollars in frozen assets if it dropped its demand to collect tolls from ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The offer was made during indirect talks in Doha, Qatar, where U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and White House adviser Jared Kushner met this week with Qatari mediators relaying messages to Iranian representatives. The negotiations were aimed at advancing last month’s memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran.
The Journal reported, citing people familiar with the talks, that U.S. negotiators proposed giving Iran access to part of approximately $100 billion in frozen overseas assets if the regime abandoned its claim to control the strait and dropped its plan to charge commercial vessels for passage.
The potential release included $6 billion held in Qatar. But Iran’s continued attempt to restrict navigation through the strait has delayed any movement on those funds, according to the report.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, who participated in the Doha talks, returned from Qatar and said Thursday that the Strait of Hormuz remains “under Iran’s command,” the Journal reported.
Later Thursday, Iran’s military warned that any vessel traveling outside routes approved by Tehran would face an “immediate and powerful” response.
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most important shipping lanes, with roughly one-fifth of global oil supply passing through it before the conflict began Feb. 28. More than 100 ships used the strait daily before the war. By Wednesday, daily traffic had dropped to 43 vessels, down from 75 a week earlier, according to the Journal.
Iran has argued that ships using the waterway should pay fees to cover maritime security and related services. The Journal reported that Tehran’s proposed toll system could generate as much as $40 billion annually.
The United States and Gulf Arab nations have rejected that demand.
Negotiators have also reviewed an alternative plan from Oman, which shares jurisdiction over part of the strait. Under that proposal, shipping-related services would be funded through a voluntary mechanism supported by oil producers and shipping companies instead of mandatory transit tolls.
Iran objected to the Omani proposal because it would not require vessels to pay fees directly to Tehran, according to the Journal. U.S. officials have also expressed concern that the plan could still be viewed as indirectly benefiting Iran.
“Iran is trying to open the strait on its own terms and does not want to relinquish what leverage it has gained,” Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House, told the Journal.
But “Tehran can disrupt the strait more easily than it can sustainably administer it,” she said.
The standoff leaves the future of the Strait of Hormuz unresolved as Washington seeks to restore free commercial passage while Iran attempts to use the waterway as leverage in negotiations.
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