Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is charging tolls on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, demanding payment in Chinese yuan or cryptocurrency, while 41 nations gathered in London this week to figure out what to do about it.
The United Kingdom convened the summit on Thursday to address the closure of the world's most critical maritime chokepoint. Iran has shut down the strait through missile and drone attacks, threats of further strikes, and the potential mining of the waterway. The attendees pinned blame squarely on Tehran for holding the global economy "hostage."
That much is obvious. What's less obvious is why the nations most dependent on Gulf energy spent the last five weeks watching the strait close and are only now convening a meeting about it.
According to The Hill, while diplomats talked, the IRGC acted. Iran's parliament approved a plan to collect tolls on vessels transiting the strait, and the IRGC is already enforcing them. The pricing tells you everything about Tehran's strategy:
Iran isn't just closing a waterway. It is asserting sovereignty over it, demanding international recognition as the authority governing passage. Limited transit continues for nations Tehran considers friendly. Everyone else waits.
The toll plan technically requires approval from neighboring states. The IRGC didn't wait for that formality.
The U.K. summit produced four action items: diplomatic pressure on Iran, exploring sanctions if the strait stays closed, cooperation with shipping operators to maintain "operational confidence," and using the International Maritime Organization to help release trapped ships and crews.
Diplomatic pressure. Exploring sanctions. Operational confidence. These are the words of governments that have outsourced their security posture for decades and now find themselves without leverage.
Meanwhile, the real costs mount. Countries are rationing oil and gas. The Strait's closure is disrupting global food supplies. Farmers face fuel shortages for equipment and delays in fertilizer deliveries due to transit delays. The U.N. launched a task force last month focused on permitting the passage of critical supplies like fertilizer, sulfur, and ammonia.
Conflict-affected countries are under particular strain, with humanitarian organizations stretched thin. These aren't abstract statistics. They're the downstream consequences of a regime that weaponizes geography.
French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking during a visit to South Korea, responded to President Trump's April 1 call for allies to join operations to reopen the strait. Macron's reply:
"They cannot then complain about not being supported in an operation they decided on their own. It is not our operation."
This is the same France that depends on Gulf energy imports. The same Europe that has spent years underfunding its own military capacity while relying on American security guarantees. Macron rejects participation in opening the strait but offers no alternative plan to reopen it. He is content to attend summits and issue communiqués while his own citizens face energy rationing.
The position is coherent only if you believe that refusing to act is the same as having a strategy.
President Trump stated on April 1 that the "countries of the world" most reliant on Gulf energy must lead on opening the passage. He added that the U.S. "will be helpful" but suggested the strait would "open up naturally" when fighting ends. He also announced preparations for major strikes against Iran, with bridges and electricity plants on the target list.
The signal is clear: the nations that benefit most from the strait should bear the burden of securing it. This is not an unreasonable position. The Strait of Hormuz carries energy that fuels European and Asian economies far more than the American one. The U.S. has spent decades policing waterways for the benefit of nations that then lecture Washington about restraint.
At the United Nations, Bahrain authored a Security Council resolution to protect commercial shipping in and around the strait. China is blocking it. The resolution is expected to go to a vote next week.
Beijing opposes the resolution while its currency is the one Iran accepts for tolls. That alignment is not a coincidence.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky weighed in, advising that the Strait issue should be separated from war negotiations. He stated that Ukraine could help "control the Strait unilaterally" with interceptors, military convoys, and an integrated electronic warfare network. Ukraine, he said, is ready to assist if requested by partners.
Zelensky is a wartime leader looking for ways to demonstrate value to the Western alliance. The offer is notable because it comes from the one European leader who has experience running a military operation under sustained pressure. Whether the logistics support that claim is a separate question. But at least someone at the table is offering capabilities instead of communiqués.
Forty-one nations convened a summit. They produced a list of things they might consider doing. Iran, meanwhile, built a toll booth and started collecting.
The IRGC doesn't need a four-point action plan. It has missiles, drones, and a chokepoint that carries roughly one-fifth of the world's oil. Every day the Strait remains under Tehran's control, the toll regime becomes more normalized. Every tanker that pays in yuan reinforces a financial architecture designed to circumvent Western sanctions.
The summit agreed to "explore" sanctions. Iran is already imposing its own. The question is not whether the world will respond. It's whether the response will arrive before Tehran's new order becomes the status quo.
Summits don't reopen shipping lanes. Ships do.