The United States maintained a blockade of Iranian ports while Iran lifted and then reimposed a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas flowed before the war broke out.
During ceasefire talks, those controlling the Strait of Hormuz Tehran proposed introduction of fees for the safe transit of ships. The plan to introduce such a fee was recently confirmed by the Financial Times.
On Saturday, April 18, when Iran briefly opened the controlled strait, ships tried to sail through, but at least two of them, including the tanker, reported that Iranian boats fired at themforcing them to turn back. MARISKS reported that in his opinion at least one ship that tried to leave the strait on Saturday but was hit fell victim to such a scam.
MARISKS – as it describes itself – focuses on protecting human life at sea, protecting maritime trade and customers' reputations, operating in high-risk areas of the world.
|
MARISKS
On April 20, MARISKS released warning for shipownersthat unknown persons, impersonating the Iranian authorities, sent some shipping companies a message with the option to pay transit fees in cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin or Tether, for the purpose of “clearance”.
“Once the documents are provided and your eligibility is assessed by the Iranian security services, we will be able to determine fee to be paid in cryptocurrency (BTC or USDT). Only then your ship will be able to sail through the strait without any problems within the agreed date,” we read in the message quoted by MARISKS.
Crypto scandal in the Strait of Hormuz Bitcoin scammers offer shipowners safe transit
|
Own materials
Customs duty in bitcoin?
The company said that these particular messages are a scam, adding that the message was not sent by Iranian authorities. Tehran had no immediate comment. Reuters was unable to verify the information or trace the companies that received the message.
However, it is not impossible that this is the case Iran began to implement its earlier ones announcements and will actually collect customs duties in bitcoins of $1 per barrel of oil while allowing empty tankers to pass freely. For many shipowners, this is definitely a beneficial option, because currently they are stuck in the Persian Gulf generating losses hundreds of ships and about 20 thousand sailors.
