Iran charges Hormuz fees by August 31?

Iran's senior negotiators have said publicly that the Strait of Hormuz will not return to its prewar status and that ships will pay service fees once the current 60-day free passage window expires. That's not ambiguous diplomatic language — it's a stated policy position from named officials with a specific timeline attached. The 60-day free passage commitment runs from the June memorandum's signing into mid-August. If no extension is negotiated, Iran has both the stated intent and the operational window to begin issuing fee schedules before August 31. The mid-August expiration date and the August 31 contract deadline are close enough that even modest negotiating delays would produce the window Iran needs to implement charges within the resolution period. The legal architecture Iran is building around this is analytically important. UNCLOS prohibits pure transit tolls on international straits but permits fees for specific maritime services — piloting, towing, port operations, navigational assistance. Iranian officials are deliberately framing any charges as "maritime service fees" rather than transit tolls, creating a legal gray zone that allows implementation while providing cover against the most straightforward international law objections. The U.S. interim deal text itself leaves room for a post-ceasefire service-fee framework after consultations with Oman and Gulf states — meaning Washington has not explicitly foreclosed the mechanism Iran is signaling it will use. The negotiating dynamic is the variable that determines whether this resolves YES or NO. If the 60-day window gets extended by mutual consent as part of broader peace talks, Iran has less incentive to implement fees immediately and the August 31 deadline may pass without the trigger event. If talks stall or break down, Iran has explicitly telegraphed its next move. Bottom line: Iran's public statements, named official sources, and the specific mid-August timeline create the most direct official signaling of any contract in the Hormuz market family. Watch whether the 60-day window gets formally extended before mid-August as the binary event that determines whether this contract resolves YES or whether Iran's stated fee implementation timeline materializes within the resolution window.