Twenty ships

Iran agreed to let 20 Pakistani-flagged ships cross the Strait of Hormuz, two per day, under Pakistani navy escort. Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar announced it on X, calling it "a welcome and constructive gesture that deserves appreciation" and "a harbinger of peace and stability in the region."

It is the first transit agreement since Iran closed the strait a month ago. But it is a bilateral deal, not a multilateral one. Iran grants passage to Pakistan, its neighbour, a Muslim country, a mediator in the negotiations, and a nuclear power. It does not grant passage to the world. Before the war, 130 ships crossed Hormuz daily. Now six or fewer pass, with Iranian permission. Twenty Pakistani ships do not change the global energy equation. But they establish a principle that does change the politics: transit through Hormuz is no longer free. It is granted.

Iran is legislating to charge tolls on ships crossing the strait. If the Pakistani precedent extends to other countries, Hormuz will cease to be an international strait and become an Iranian corridor with a toll. It is a transformation of the global maritime order that no war since 1945 had achieved. And it is being consolidated not through a treaty but through the force of facts.