Key GOP senator says he is crafting new legislation to stop Tehran from netting $2 million profit per ship
Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) is pressing the Trump administration to immediately sanction any country or entity helping Iran establish a “toll booth” in the Strait of Hormuz that could net the hardline regime as much as $2 million per vessel. The senator says that he is crafting new legislation that will aid the Trump administration’s efforts to stop Iran from bullying vessels in the pivotal shipping corridor, according to a copy of Cotton’s request obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The letter sent Thursday to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is a direct response to Iran’s efforts to create a “permanent Hormuz toll system” in the strait along with Oman, a major U.S. ally. The rumored efforts have already drawn a sharp rebuke from the Trump administration, which says that any type of Iranian-controlled toll system will detonate ongoing talks around a permanent ceasefire plan.
“Any individual, entity, or nation that lends legitimacy to Iran’s illegal toll booth is enabling the IRGC and undermining the global trading system,” Cotton wrote. “Beyond the immediate revenue it generates for the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps], formal recognition of their scheme by any government, shipowner, or financial institution would violate the principle of freedom of navigation and set a dangerous precedent for other coastal states near the world’s critical maritime routes.”
Iran formally created a Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) on Thursday and said it “has defined the boundaries of the Strait of Hormuz management supervision area,” which will extend from the Strait and into the Gulf of Oman. Under the framework, commercial vessels would need to apply to the PGSA, disclose their ownership, insurance, crew manifest, and cargo. Tehran would then charge up to $2 million per ship to ensure safe passage through the waterway.
“The PGSA cannot operate without the consent of other nations, and the United States must ensure every actor enabling the terrorist Iranian regime is held accountable,” Cotton wrote. “I support the use of existing authorities to impose sanctions on the PGSA, its officers, and any foreign entity that pays, processes, or facilitates tolls to Iran for passage through the Strait of Hormuz.”
Fresh sanctions on the PGSA’s leaders and partners, Cotton says, could help detonate the organization before it has a chance to start harassing ships.
“The PGSA operates directly under the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, meaning every dollar collected directly finances a sanctioned terrorist entity,” the senator wrote.
Cotton is the first lawmaker to float a legislative plan to sanction and disrupt the PGSA. It would likely garner widespread GOP support, as well as that of the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both said on Thursday that the PGSA is unacceptable and will be met with resistance by Washington.
“We want it free,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “We don’t want tolls. It’s international. It’s an international waterway.”
Rubio went further, saying that “a tolling system in the strait would be unacceptable” and would prompt American action at the U.N. Security Council.
“We have a resolution right now in the United Nations—we’re trying to take it to the Security Council—sponsored by Bahrain,” Rubio said. “The highest number of cosponsors in the history of the Security Council have signed on to our resolution.”
The measure is notably backed by China—considered an Iranian ally—and numerous Arab nations.
Any such system, Rubio said, “would make a diplomatic deal unfeasible if they were to continue to pursue that. So it’s a threat to the world that they would try to do that. And it’s completely illegal, by the way.”
Congress, Cotton made clear in his letter, “stands ready to support any actions that further this mission and hold these entities to account.”