Inside Iran's Hormuz Tollbooth: Clearance Codes, VHF Radio, and Trump's "Gift"

How the IRGC Vetting System Works

The shipping journal Lloyd's List — the world's oldest continuously published journal and the authoritative voice on global maritime trade — published details on Wednesday, March 25, of exactly how Iran's "toll booth" system operates to control which vessels may transit the Strait of Hormuz. The account, based on sources familiar with the system, reveals a multi-step bureaucratic vetting process operating in parallel with the ongoing war. (Source: Al Jazeera, March 26, 2026, citing Lloyd's List.)

The process works as follows:

• Step 1 — Application via intermediary: Vessel operators must first reach out to intermediaries connected to the IRGC. They submit full documentation about the ship: its International Maritime Organization (IMO) number, the specific cargo being transported, the names of all crew members, and the vessel's final destination.
• Step 2 — IRGC naval command vetting: The intermediaries forward this package to the IRGC's naval command, which vets the information. If the vessel passes screening, the IRGC issues a clearance code and specifies the route the vessel must follow through the strait.
• Step 3 — Radio challenge at the strait: Once the ship enters the strait, IRGC commanders issue a challenge over VHF radio, asking for the vessel's clearance code. The ship responds with the code.
• Step 4 — Armed escort: If the code is valid, a boat from Iran arrives to physically escort the vessel through Iranian territorial waters around Larak Island — the narrow passage within the strait.
• Step 5 — Rejection for non-compliance: If a vessel has not obtained clearance or fails the screening, it is turned back. The day before he was killed, IRGC Navy Commander Alireza Tangsiri posted on X that a container ship named Selen had been turned back "due to failure to comply with legal protocols and lack of permission" to pass. He stated: "The passage of any vessel through this waterway requires full coordination with Iran's maritime authority." (Source: Al Jazeera, March 26, 2026.)

In the 12 days since March 13, Lloyd's List documented 26 vessel transits through the strait that "followed a route pre-approved under the IRGC 'toll booth' system." None of these ships had their Automatic Identification System (AIS) switched on — meaning they were operating without the standard global vessel-tracking signal. (Source: Lloyd's List, March 25, 2026; cited by Al Jazeera, March 26, 2026.)

How Many Ships Are Actually Moving

The 26 pre-approved transits since March 13 stand in stark contrast to normal Hormuz traffic. Before the war, the strait handled approximately 20 percent of global oil and LNG supply — dozens of tankers per day. The current rate is a small fraction of that.

International Maritime Organization Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez told Al Jazeera that nearly 2,000 ships are waiting on both sides of the strait. In a separate interview with Xinhua, Dominguez put the human figure at "around 20,000 innocent seafarers on around 2,000 ships" — mariners effectively stranded in a war zone. Maritime intelligence service Windward characterized the build-up as evidence that "many operators have chosen to hold position outside Hormuz rather than commit immediately to long-haul rerouting." (Sources: Al Jazeera, March 26, 2026; Xinhua, March 25, 2026.)

Separately, Windward documented only 16 crossings by ships with their AIS switched on in the week of March 15 to March 22. It also observed 8 "dark ships" — vessels exceeding 290 meters (950 feet) in length operating in the strait with their AIS switched off. One US-sanctioned ship was observed near the UAE's Khor Fakkan port on March 16 before going dark. (Source: Al Jazeera, citing Windward, March 26, 2026.)

Who Gets Through — And in What Currency

Iran has publicly stated the strait is open to all except the US and its allies. In a letter sent to 176 IMO member states on March 24, Iran stated that "non-hostile vessels, including those belonging to or associated with other States, may — provided that they neither participate in nor support acts of aggression against Iran and fully comply with the declared safety and security regulations — benefit from safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz in coordination with the competent Iranian authorities." (Source: Al Jazeera, March 26, 2026.)

In practice, Lloyd's List confirmed that ships from Malaysia, China, Egypt, South Korea, and India have been allowed to pass. Crucially, Lloyd's List also reported that at least two vessels that have transited the strait paid their fee in Chinese yuan. One transit was reportedly brokered by a Chinese maritime services company acting as an intermediary, which also handled the payment to Iranian authorities. (Source: Al Jazeera, citing Lloyd's List, March 26, 2026.)

The yuan payment detail matters beyond the transaction itself. Iran remains under extensive US dollar-denominated sanctions, making dollar payments through Western clearing systems legally perilous for any buyer. Yuan payments routed through Chinese intermediaries sidestep that constraint entirely — using China's financial infrastructure to conduct commerce that Western banks cannot legally facilitate.

The Indian government, for its part, stated publicly that no payment was made for Indian vessels that transited. Whether that claim is accurate or reflects a different payment structure cannot be independently verified from public information. (Source: Al Jazeera, March 26, 2026.)

Trump's "Gift" — Explained

On Tuesday, March 24, Trump told reporters cryptically that Iran had sent him a "gift" that was "worth a tremendous amount of money," and that it told him "we're talking to the right people." He declined to specify what the gift was. (Source: PBS NewsHour, March 24, 2026.)

On Thursday, March 26, at a Cabinet meeting, Trump revealed the answer. According to the Times of Israel, he stated: "They said, 'To show you the fact that we're real and solid, we're going to let you have eight big boats of oil.' And then I watched the news… and they said there are eight boats that are going right up the middle of the Hormuz Strait." Trump claimed those tankers were Pakistani-flagged. He then said Iran allowed two more after the initial eight, bringing the total he cited to 10. (Source: Times of Israel, March 26, 2026; Livemint, March 26, 2026.)

Trump framed the tanker passage as evidence that Iran is genuinely interested in a deal — a signal of sincerity, not just a commercial transaction. The CBS News account of the Cabinet meeting described Trump saying the gifts were "proof that the regime was looking to negotiate an end to the war." (Source: CBS News, March 26, 2026.)

Iran has not confirmed this account. The Times of Israel report is based on Trump's own statements at the Cabinet meeting, which was partially open to press. Whether this was a coordinated diplomatic gesture from Iran, a commercial passage that Trump has interpreted as a political signal, or something negotiated through the Pakistan intermediary channel that has been facilitating back-channel communications is not clear from the public record.

Iran Is Formalizing the System

Iranian parliament is now moving to codify what is currently an informal IRGC operation. Iranian state media outlets Tasnim and Fars, quoting the chairman of parliament's Civil Affairs Committee, reported Thursday that a draft law has been prepared and will soon be finalized by the parliament's legal team. The official was quoted as saying: "According to this plan, Iran must collect fees to ensure the security of ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz." He added: "This is completely natural. Just as in other corridors, when goods pass through a country, duties are paid. The Strait of Hormuz is also a corridor. We ensure its security, and it is natural for ships and tankers to pay us duties." (Source: Al Jazeera, March 26, 2026, citing Tasnim and Fars.)

Iran has also made recognition of its authority over the Strait of Hormuz one of its five stated conditions for ending the war. A formal toll regime backed by domestic law would be the most concrete implementation of that demand to date — transforming what is currently an ad hoc IRGC operation into a permanent institutional framework.

The Helium Problem

One dimension of the Hormuz closure that has gone largely unreported: the strait's disruption extends well beyond oil and LNG. Al Jazeera reported Thursday that the closure is threatening global supplies of helium — a critical element used in MRI machines, semiconductor manufacturing, and scientific research. Qatar is a major helium exporter, and its shipments transit Hormuz. Disruption to helium supply has potential consequences for hospitals running MRI scanners and for chip fabrication facilities globally. The exact scale of the helium supply impact is not yet fully quantified in public reports. (Source: Al Jazeera, March 26, 2026.)

Why This Matters

The Lloyd's List account of the IRGC vetting system reveals that Iran has built a functioning, bureaucratized alternative to free navigation through Hormuz — with application forms, clearance codes, radio challenges, physical escorts, and yuan-denominated payments. It is operating right now, and 26 ships have already transited under it.

Trump's "gift" framing suggests he views the tanker passage as a diplomatic concession — evidence of Iranian good faith. Whether that reading is accurate or whether it is an Iranian attempt to simultaneously extract money, demonstrate control, and manage Trump's expectations about a deal is a question the public record cannot yet answer.

What is documented: a parallel shipping system is running in one of the world's most important waterways, denominated in yuan, operated by a military paramilitary force, and about to be encoded in Iranian law — all while the war continues and 2,000 ships wait.