Oman’s Strait of Hormuz Toll Plan Throws It Into US-Iran Crossfire as Gulf Blockade Enters 10th Week
A brewing standoff is forcing Oman into the middle of a geopolitical turf war, as Iran pushes forward with plans to charge fees and demand nationality checks on all ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz—a move the United States fiercely opposes [150633]. The narrow waterway has been blockaded for ten weeks since a US-Israeli attack on Iran in February, choking a passage that normally carries a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil [150633].
While Iran says it is working with Oman on the toll plan, Oman has not commented, leaving the Gulf state stuck between its powerful neighbor and Washington [150633]. The stakes are high: the strait’s shutdown has already cut global supplies of energy and fertilizer, driving up costs for farmers as far away as Egypt, who are now barely getting by [150235].
The conflict has expanded well beyond the strait. A wave of violence now includes Lebanon, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, following military strikes by Israel and the United States on Iran [90697]. Lebanon has filed an unprecedented complaint with the United Nations, accusing Iran of infiltrating its territory by disguising members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as diplomats [150598]. The IRGC is a branch of Iran’s armed forces that the US has designated as a terrorist organization [150598].
In the Gulf, the attacks are reshaping daily life. A leading journalist from Doha reports the conflict will force a “complete reset of the region at the end of this war,” including a military reassessment of US defense assets stationed in the area [98764]. Families are reconsidering whether to stay in the Gulf, and security concerns are influencing decisions to move away [98764].
The environmental cost is also mounting. An oil spill from an Iranian drone carrier, the Shahid Bagheri—struck by a US warplane during the opening days of the attack—is now drifting toward the Hara mangrove forest, one of the Middle East’s most vital wetlands home to migrating birds and endangered turtles [123126].
On the ground in the occupied Palestinian territories, the conflict’s broader context is never far from memory. Palestinians marked the 78th anniversary of the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” under the slogan “We will not leave. Our roots are deeper than your destruction,” as fresh violence and large-scale displacement continue in Gaza and the West Bank [149922]. Israel is also planning to approve the seizure of Palestinian properties in the Bab al-Silsila neighborhood near the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, a move the Jerusalem Governorate warned will further inflame tensions over land and property rights in the contested city [151137].
Even as the war rages, diplomatic efforts are stirring. Saudi Arabia has floated the idea of a Middle Eastern non-aggression pact with Iran, modeled on the 1970s Helsinki process, with European nations expressing support—though the proposal remains in early stages with no formal negotiations [149387].
In the midst of all this, a senior Iranian military officer claims Tehran now controls the outcome of the war, demanding the withdrawal of US forces from the Gulf region and payment for damages from the conflict [103486]. The crisis shows no signs of resolution, and its ripple effects are now felt from the fishing villages of the Gulf to the farmlands of Egypt.