Strait of Hormuz Deal Faces Mine Clearance and Fee Dispute Before Reopening

On June 14, 2026, US President Donald Trump announced the immediate lifting of the United States naval blockade of Iranian ports and authorized what he called the toll free reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The decision came after Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, acting as a key mediator, confirmed that Washington and Tehran had finalized a memorandum of understanding. That document is scheduled to be signed in Geneva on June 19, 2026, and it opens a 60 day negotiation window meant to bring a formal end to a conflict that began on February 28, 2026.

The waterway had been effectively closed to commercial shipping for 107 days. Iran shut the strait after joint US and Israeli airstrikes killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in late February. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps then warned vessels away, boarded and attacked merchant ships, and laid sea mines. From April 13 to late May the United States ran its own blockade of Iranian ports, intercepting dozens of vessels and seizing several. Before the war roughly 3,000 ships crossed the strait each month, carrying about one fifth of the world seaborne oil trade and a fifth of global liquefied natural gas. By April that flow had collapsed to fewer than 200 recorded crossings for the entire month.

Despite the announcement, the strait remains open in principle but constrained in practice as of June 16, 2026. Traffic stayed sporadic rather than recovered. AIS data (Automatic Identification System) for June 15 showed 14 vessels crossing the strait, split between 6 entries and 8 exits, a figure within a recent daily range of roughly 6 to 35 and still far below the pre-war baseline of about 94. Notable crossings on June 15 included the LNG carrier Jersey Devil 404 and the bulk carrier Kaiser, alongside several smaller cargo ships and Iranian-flagged Ro-Ro vessels, which suggests that energy and regional trade flows are being selectively allowed rather than fully reopened. Most transits continue to follow one of two patterns, either an Iranian-run vetting lane in the north or a southern coastal route along Oman, with roughly half of moving ships using each.

The total number of vessels inside the Persian Gulf stood at 3,478 units on June 15, down from about 3,919 on May 19, pointing to a sustained contraction in active regional capacity. US Vice President JD Vance and President Trump both said tankers had begun sailing out, and Trump claimed the US Navy had quietly helped 200 commercial ships and more than 100 million barrels of oil through the strait over the past month, while Iranian authorities reported that no formal transit permits had been issued in the previous 96 hours. The gap between official claims and verified vessel data underlines how fragile the situation still is.

Mines remain the largest physical obstacle. Western maritime security sources estimate that clearing the waterway with conventional minesweepers and underwater drones could take 40 to 50 days before insurers, shipowners, and oil companies feel confident enough to sail. The Pentagon internal estimate is far longer, placing full minesweeping at up to six months even with three dedicated vessels in the region. Shipping body BIMCO continues to describe transits as very risky at this stage, and Lloyd's List notes the sector is not rushing back.

Vessels that have moved have done so under tight conditions. Some exit through an Iranian run vetting lane in the north of the strait, while others slip out along the Omani coast in the south with transponders switched off under guidance from US forces. Iran has threatened to attack ships using the internationally recognized mid strait transit lanes, so most captains avoid them.

The question of passage fees has become the sharpest point of friction. Trump insisted the strait would be permanently toll free, and Vance said Washington expects long term passage without charges. Tehran reads the deal differently. Iran says the 60 day grace period is toll free, after which it plans to charge for services rather than tolls. A foreign ministry spokesman stated that Iran and Oman would levy fees for navigation services, environmental protection, and ship insurance. The draft text reportedly was changed at the last minute to codify Iranian and Omani sovereignty over future management of the waterway, a clause Iranian media say appears more than once.

This sets up a structural dispute. In May 2026 Iran created the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, based in Tehran, to authorize and regulate transit. Some vessels had reportedly faced demands as high as 2 million dollars for passage. The United States warned in late May that Oman should not help facilitate tolls and cautioned shippers that paying Iran could trigger sanctions. Under international law of the sea, coastal states bordering a strait are obliged not to hamper passage and are generally barred from charging ships simply for transiting. Iran frames its charges as service fees to sidestep that rule.

Looking ahead, the June 19 signing in Geneva starts a 60 day clock on the harder issues. Negotiators must address Iran uranium enrichment limits, the fate of its enriched uranium stockpile, the scope of sanctions relief, the release of frozen Iranian assets, and reconstruction funding. Tehran has signaled it will not begin nuclear talks until Washington releases billions in frozen funds, an assertion US officials reject. G7 leaders discussed the long term reopening of the strait on June 15. Israel has distanced itself from the framework, with one minister stating the deal does not bind Israel, and Israeli operations continued in southern Lebanon after the announcement.

Markets reacted quickly. Brent crude fell more than 4 percent to around 83 dollars per barrel on deal optimism, though analysts caution that prices remain elevated and that full normalization of energy flows could take months beyond the political signing. Tanker backlogs must clear, Gulf producers that throttled output need time to restart, and terminal operators in Japan, South Korea, and the European Union must rebuild suspended delivery schedules for LNG cargoes. For now the deal marks a turning point on paper, but the combination of uncleared mines, contested fees, and conflicting interpretations means the world most important oil chokepoint is far from back to normal.