A “VIP pass” for a warship’s protection: that is how one person familiar with the talks described an idea now circulating in the Trump administration. Ships would pay the United States for expedited passage through the Strait of Hormuz, possibly under military escort. Politico reported the discussions on Tuesday, citing three sources.
The context is a fragile truce. Over the weekend, President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Iranian negotiators agreed on a memorandum of understanding as a prelude to possibly ending the war. A leaked version has 14 provisions. They include Iran reopening the strait, an end to the U.S. naval blockade of Iran, and at least $300 billion in financing “for the rehabilitation and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Opening the strait on paper is one thing. Getting tankers to enter it is another, because insurers are currently not covering any losses sustained there. Chosun reported that traffic has been slow to recover since the cease-fire memorandum was signed electronically on the 14th, and that Kpler counts about 500 ships anchored in the Persian Gulf, 220 of them oil tankers.
Orders to find a fix
Trump and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles have told officials to come up with something. “The President and Susie are giving them explicit orders to figure something out,” one person told Politico. “With limited exceptions, every transit [through Hormuz] is violating insurance plans. So what can be done to accelerate the insurers to start insuring again?”
Most of the discussion, Politico reported, has centered on persuading insurers to cover voyages through a narrow waterway where Iran has successfully attacked vessels. An energy industry executive said one proposal would invoke the Defense Production Act to require U.S.-based insurers to provide that coverage.
The fee-based escort is a separate option. “There is some talk of some expedited escorted passage by paying the U.S. — like putting a VIP pass on your ship,” one person said. “The concept is that there could be a fee for expedited clearance, maybe with military escort.”
A bargaining chip?
A former administration official offered a different reading. The tanker fee talk, this person said, is a negotiating tactic while Trump is in France for the G7 summit. It is “all about creating the space for France, Britain, others to move into the Gulf, take responsibility for maritime safety, security, and create an additional deterrence to the Iranians for trying to go back on the deal, use Hormuz as this long-term extortion racket.”
Officials interviewed by Politico said none of the ideas under discussion has been finalized.
Sources
- Trump Administration Mulls Charging Fees for Naval Escort Through Hormuz: Report
- U.S. mulls paid Navy escorts and insurer push to restore Hormuz transits
