The US has sanctioned Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority, which manages Hormuz passage requests, with Treasury Secretary Bessent saying the action targets Iranian tolls and maximum pressure on Tehran continues.
Earlier re Hormuz:
Summary:
Sources: US Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control SDN list; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, 28 May 2026
- The US Treasury added the Persian Gulf Strait Authority to its Specially Designated Nationals list via the Office of Foreign Assets Control
- The Persian Gulf Strait Authority is the body Iran established to manage passage requests through the Strait of Hormuz
- Treasury Secretary Bessent said the action specifically targets Iran’s Hormuz toll regime and that the Treasury is maintaining maximum pressure on Iran
- Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz after the US and Israel launched military operations against Iran on February 28
- The Persian Gulf Strait Authority published a map last week reaffirming Tehran’s claims to a wide stretch of water on either side of the chokepoint
- The Strait of Hormuz carries approximately one fifth of global oil supply
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States is maintaining maximum pressure on Iran as Washington sanctioned the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, the body Tehran established to manage passage requests through the Strait of Hormuz and collect tolls from vessels seeking to transit the waterway.
The designation was made by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which added the authority to its Specially Designated Nationals list on Wednesday. The SDN list, which runs to thousands of named individuals and entities, carries sweeping consequences: any person or organisation subject to US jurisdiction is prohibited from dealing with a listed party, and foreign entities risk secondary sanctions exposure if they engage with designated bodies.
Bessent was direct about the intent. The action targets Iran’s Hormuz toll regime, the mechanism by which Tehran has sought to monetise and formalise its claim to authority over one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints. By sanctioning the administrative body that processes those passage requests, Washington is making clear it regards any compliance with Iranian toll requirements as a sanctionable act, raising the legal risk for shipping companies, insurers, and flag states operating in the region.
The Strait of Hormuz has been closed to normal commercial traffic since Iran shut it following the outbreak of hostilities on February 28, when the United States and Israel launched military operations against Iran. The strait is the conduit for approximately one fifth of the global oil supply, and its closure has been a primary driver of the energy price pressures that central banks from Washington to Frankfurt to Seoul have spent this week describing as a significant inflation risk.
The Persian Gulf Strait Authority had signalled its intentions publicly only last week, publishing a map reaffirming Tehran’s claims to a wide stretch of water on either side of the chokepoint, a move that drew immediate international attention and set the stage for Wednesday’s sanctions designation.
The action sits alongside a broader maximum pressure campaign that has operated across financial, diplomatic, and military tracks throughout the conflict. Earlier on Wednesday, US forces struck a site near Bandar Abbas and intercepted Iranian drones in an incident whose accounts from the two sides contradicted each other almost entirely. The Iranian parliament’s national security committee earlier restated Tehran’s four non-negotiable red lines, including authority over the strait, as unchanged. The SDN designation of the body administering that authority makes the US position on that claim equally clear.
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Sanctioning the body Iran set up to manage Hormuz passage requests is a direct challenge to Tehran’s toll regime and its broader claim to authority over the strait. The move raises the legal and operational risk for any entity that engages with the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, potentially chilling even nominal compliance with Iranian passage requirements. For oil markets, the designation reinforces that the US has no intention of legitimising Iranian control over the chokepoint, keeping the transit risk premium intact. Combined with Wednesday night’s duelling accounts of the Bandar Abbas drone incident, the sanctions action signals that the maximum pressure framework is being applied across diplomatic, financial, and military tracks simultaneously.
