Oil industry pleads its Hormuz case with White House
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Oil executives are citing international treaties, sanction laws and high payments in opposing Iran's plan to charge ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Liberia-flagged tanker Shenlong Suezmax, carrying crude oil from Saudi Arabia, is seen at the Mumbai Port in Mumbai, India, on March 12, 2026. | Rafiq Maqbool/AP
By Ben Lefebvre and Phelim Kine 04/08/2026 03:58 PM EDT
President Donald Trump’s Iran peace plan is getting pushback from one key constituency: the oil industry.
Oil company executives are reaching out to the White House, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President J.D. Vance to protest allowing Iran to charge tolls through the strategic Strait of Hormuz as a condition of peace talks, said one industry consultant granted anonymity to discuss relations with the administration.
“Hell yes,” this person said when asked if executives were contacting the White House to protest a toll on Hormuz. ”We didn’t have to do that before — and I thought we won the war. Any place you have access to the administration, you ask, what are you guys thinking?”
The response administrative officials were giving industry representatives “is not a cold shoulder,” this person added. “It’s more like, ‘Yeah, ok, we’ll take note.’”
Oil industry representatives met with senior administration staff in the State Department on Wednesday morning to raise concerns, said one person who said they attended the meeting.
Among their points: Conceding to Iran’s request would add $2.5 million to each shipment in tolls and higher insurance rates, a cost that would be passed on to consumers. Giving Iran control of Hormuz could set precedent for countries like Singapore and Turkey to charge tolls on important trade routes on the Strait of Malacca and Bosporus. And paying the toll could put companies in legal jeopardy for violating sanctions on Iranian officials.
Companies were also expressing their concerns directly with Trump, but more gently, added this person, who was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
“The president is extremely sensitive to the legacy and judgment on the success of this war so pushing the president right now is seen as a risky proposition,” this person said. “But the White House is hearing from the industry despite the gingerness of the conversations.”
A White House spokesperson did not directly answer questions on whether the administration was hearing from industry representatives or how it would address their concerns, instead referring to a Wednesday afternoon press conference where White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration was working with a “more reasonable” set of Iranian proposals.
Iran “put forward a more reasonable and entirely different and condensed plan to the president and his team,” Leavitt said during the press conference, without saying what in the plan had changed. “The President’s red lines, namely the end of uranium enrichment in Iran, have not changed. And the idea that President Trump would ever accept an Iranian wishlist as a deal is completely absurd.”
Vance’s office and the State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Vance is headed to Islamabad to help with negotiations, Leavitt said during the press conference.
With a fifth of global oil supply depending on Hormuz to reach the market, leaving Iran in control of which ships can enter and exit would add significant costs — and legal liability — to companies long used to free navigation through the waterway.
Iran is already demanding tolls be paid in yuan or cryptocurrency for tankers that cross through the strait, according to media reports. Trump on Tuesday said the United States would use Iran’s 10-point plan — which calls for it to collect a toll of $2 million per ship — as a basis for a permanent ceasefire.
[Yeah, incapable of coming up with a better baseline to work from so go with Iran's. What a winner!]
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“I expect serious pushback, and not only from the oil industry,” said Jason Bennett, a lawyer focusing on energy and international law at Baker Botts. Hormuz “is an open international waterway. Up to today, there’s been no recognition of Iran’s legal right to control the Straits of Hormuz. I don’t see anyone accepting that.”
Trump on Tuesday said the U.S. was “very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East,” adding “We received a 10 point proposal from Iran, and believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate.”
Trump, far from arguing against Iran collecting tolls, has publicly mused that the U.S. could form a “joint venture” on the operation.
“It’s an idea the president has floated,” Leavitt said in Wednesday’s press conference of Trump’s idea to share toll revenue with Iran. “And it’s something that will continue to be discussed over the course of the next two weeks. The immediate priority of the president is the reopening of the Strait without any limitations, whether in the form of tolls or otherwise.”
[Stick dollar signs in from of Trump, and he's like a love-struck puppy dog.]
Even with the ceasefire announced Tuesday evening, traffic through Hormuz remains all but stopped, said Matt Smith, analyst at commodities and ship-tracking firm Kpler. Iran closed the Strait again on Wednesday after Israel attacked its ally Lebanon.
Foreign diplomats were also raising concerns as best they could with a White House who, they have complained, has not taken much interest in their views up to now.
“Next will it be Russian tolls in the Arctic? Chinese tolls in the South China Sea?” said one Washington-based Asian diplomat. “My guess is probably [there will be] some kind of protest by the rest of the world, especially users of the Strait.”
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Other diplomats are worrying that Iran, if left to its own devices, could charge tolls on some ships and allow through others who do it political favors. A second Washington-based diplomat told POLITICO that “seven or more ships” flying the Malaysian flag were able to get through the Strait “toll-free apparently.”
“Malaysia has always been really vocal against Israel, way before this whole Hormuz situation, so Tehran probably sees them as a friendly country,” the diplomat said. “That plus staying neutral on the US-Israel strikes probably helped a lot. All that hedging and maintaining good relations with everyone, even countries the West isn’t too fond of, actually pays off when things get rough like this.”
The Malaysian embassy didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Most shipping companies won’t pay a toll, calling it unsustainable in the long run.
“The transit fee of $2 million U.S. dollars per ship from Iran’s ten-point plan represents further potential for blackmail,” said Arthur Leichthammer, fellow at Berlin-based think tank Jacques Delors Center. “That would be an extremely costly concession — both politically and economically.“
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