BEIJING — Iran's ambassador to Beijing, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, announced on July 4, 2026, that China and other friendly nations would receive special considerations on fees for ships using the Strait of Hormuz. Fazli stated that additional arrangements for the strait will involve collaboration with Oman.

Fazli spoke at the World Peace Forum in Beijing on Saturday, explaining that fees would be levied to guarantee safe passage for ships through the strait and address the cost of environmental consequences. "We will definitely have special considerations for China, because China is a friendly country," Fazli said. He added, "Special treatment we should award to countries which are friendly to us."

Fazli described the Strait of Hormuz as a matter of "national security" for Iran and asserted that enforcement of the fees "will not go against the international laws of the sea." Before the conflict, about a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supplies passed through the strait. China buys almost all of Iran's oil exports and has offered diplomatic support to Iran, while also calling for restraint regarding the recent conflict.

An interim peace deal signed last month led to an increase in traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. The US and Israel engaged in a four-month conflict against Iran, beginning with airstrikes in late February that prompted Iran to effectively close the strait. Between Friday and Saturday, at least eight ships attempting to exit the Persian Gulf along the Omani coast turned back.

China called for the unhindered flow of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz on Friday. Guo Jiakun, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, stated that such flow would be in the "interests of all parties." Some European nations accept that ships will have to pay some type of fee while transiting the strait but have urged Iranian and Omani officials not to discriminate based on nationality. The US and Gulf Arab countries maintain that Iran and Oman cannot impose any charges for the Strait of Hormuz.