Queen’s ‘keenness’ for Andrew to be trade envoy was a grave mistake | Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor

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Queen’s ‘keenness’ for Andrew to be trade envoy was a grave mistake | Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor

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That Queen Elizabeth II was “very keen” for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to take on a “prominent role in the promotion of national interests” as a trade envoy in 2001 demonstrates the fierce support the late monarch always gave her second son.

Knowing he was “the spare”, and undoubtedly acutely aware of the pitfalls of that position – her sister, Princess Margaret, had struggled to find her own role – a mother’s instinct would be to protect, so far as she could.

Presumably, she believed it would give the then Prince Andrew structure and purpose as he was steadily bumped down the line of succession, as well as highlighting the family’s own royal brand of usefulness to the country.

After a Royal Navy career, during which he even briefly enjoyed “national hero” status, posing with a rose on his return from combat in the Falklands, it could offer him direction away from the luxury yacht parties and golf courses. How wrong she was.

Royal commentators have long espoused the theory that when it came to Andrew, the late queen was blinkered. It is rumoured he was her favourite son. Perhaps he was.

What is quite evident, however, is that he was the first of her four children she was able to spend more time with as infants. When Charles and Anne were born, she was undertaking many engagements on behalf of her ailing father, George VI. On his death, she was dealing with the stresses of being a young mother and a monarch. Overseas engagements kept her away from the royal nursery for extended periods.

When Andrew was born, having settled into her position she was able to spend more time with him, cutting back on evening engagements, sometimes taking charge of bedtimes. A closer maternal bond, perhaps, was formed with Andrew and then his brother Edward.

As he grew older, it was evident, too, that the former Duke of York’s character was very different to that of his older brother, Charles. He was, according to the royal biographer Robert Hardman, “not as bright as the others, he could be boorish and everyone knew that”. His mother saw him as “vulnerable”, and continued to shield him.

Her support for him was made public in many seemingly small but nevertheless significant gestures.

Two days after the immediate fallout from that car-crash Newsnight interview in November 2019, when he spectacularly failed to quell concerns about his relationship with the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, she went out riding her horse around the grounds of Windsor Castle. Mountbatten-Windsor was at her side.

Andrew and the queen at the Royal Windsor horse show in 2017. Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA

She would have been aware of the possibility they would be photographed. She was savvy enough to know those photographs would be interpreted as tacit support for her beleaguered third-born.

After she gave him permission to step down as a working member of the royal family, even after he was stripped of his military affiliations and patronages, there would still be invitations to family Christmases at Sandringham and picnics at Balmoral. Royal blood is thicker than public ire.

It has been widely reported that she contributed to the substantial 2022 settlement he reached with Virginia Giuffre, his accuser. Two months later, at the memorial service for his father, Prince Philip, it was Mountbatten-Windsor’s arm she leaned on as he escorted her into Westminster Abbey.

It would, ultimately, be left to Charles to strip his sibling of his peerage, his prince’s title and his HRH style.



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Harvard and MIT police search for man accused of assaulting student


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Police at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are searching for a man accused of assaulting a woman inside a dorm on Tuesday night.

A woman was trying to enter her dorm room at Harvard University on Tuesday evening when a man allegedly came from behind, covered her mouth and tried to force her into the room, police said. Bystanders who witnessed the incident intervened, causing the suspect to flee the building, according to the police log. Harvard campus police responded to the incident at 5:41 p.m.

Officials said that police tried locating the suspect, but weren’t able to do so. The man entered the residence hall by following another person, but wasn’t authorized to be there.

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Man on survellance camera

MIT police said the incident happened on Tuesday night after a woman was allegedly assaulted by a man fitting the same description. (MIT)

The same man allegedly entered a residence hall at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Tuesday night by following someone else into the building, MIT police said in a statement. Police said the man was “acting suspiciously” after using a side entrance to get into the building at 5:45 p.m.

COLLEGE STUDENT ASSAULTED AS ALLEGED SECURITY LAPSES LET ATTACKER SLIP ONTO CAMPUS: REPORT

Dunster House residence hall along the Charles River at Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Dunster House residence hall stands along the Charles River on the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 27, 2025. (Sophie Park/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Officials said the man left the dorm hall at 5:59 p.m., citing security camera video. MIT police said he matched the description of the person who allegedly assaulted a Harvard student.

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The Great Dome exterior at Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus in Cambridge Massachusetts

The Great Dome exterior at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus in Cambridge, Mass., on Oct. 21, 2025. (Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire)

Police described the suspect as a white male, 5’9″, had a thin build, and was wearing a white T-shirt with dark colored shorts.

Harvard Lowell House Faculty Deans David Laibson and Nina Zipser sent an email to residents in the dorm, saying that a police officer is “now patrolling the area” and said residents can join them “to be together as we come to terms with what has happened,” according to the Harvard Crimson.

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Harvard officials reminded students to watch for people trying to follow them into restricted campus buildings after the incident.

People with information about the incidents are encouraged to contact MIT police at 617-258-TIPS.



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Chinese hackers target telcos with new Linux, Windows malware

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China

A Chinese cyber-espionage campaign has been targeting telecommunications providers with newly discovered Linux and Windows malware dubbed Showboat and JFMBackdoor, respectively.

The operation has been active since at least mid-2022 and targeted organizations across the Asia Pacific and parts of the Middle East. It was attributed to the Calypso threat group, also tracked as Red Lamassu.

According to researchers at Lumen’s Black Lotus Labs and PwC Threat Intelligence, the threat actor set up and used multiple telecom-themed domains to impersonate their targets.

The Showboat Linux malware

The Linux implant Calypso uses in these attacks, dubbed Showboat/kworker, is a modular post-exploitation framework built to  for long-term persistence after initial compromise. The initial infection vector is unknown.

According to a report today from Black Lotus Labs, once Showboat is deployed on a target system, it starts collecting information about the host and sends it to a command-and-control (C2) server.

The malware can also upload or download files, hide its own process, and establish persistence via a new service.

“One notable feature is the ‘hide’ command, which enables a process to conceal itself on a host machine by retrieving code stored on external websites such as Pastebin or online forums for use as a ‘dead drop’, Lumen’s Black Lotus Labs researchers explain.

Pastebin page used in the attacks
Pastebin page used in the attacks
Source: Lumen

Its most notable function is acting as a SOCKS5 proxy and port-forwarding pivot point, serving as a foothold on compromised endpoints and enabling the attackers to move to other systems on the internal network.

SOCKS5 and portmap functionality
SOCKS5 and portmap functionality
Source: Lumen

The JMFBackdoor Windows malware

Researchers at PwC Threat Intelligence analyzed Red Lamassu’s infection chain on Windows and noted that it starts with the execution of a batch script that drops payloads to stage a DLL-sideloading procedure (fltMC.exe + FLTLIB.dll). Ultimately, the final payload called JMFBackdoor is loaded.

The Windows attack chain
The Windows attack chain
Source: PwC

According to the researchers, JFMBackdoor is a full-featured Windows espionage implant that has the following capabilities:

  • Reverse shell access — Remote command execution on the infected machine.
  • File management — Upload, download, modify, move, and delete files.
  • TCP proxying — Uses the victim system as a network relay into internal systems.
  • Process/service management — Start, stop, create, or kill processes and services.
  • Registry manipulation — Modify Windows registry keys and values.
  • Screenshot capture — Take screenshots of the victim’s desktop and encrypt them for exfiltration.
  • Encrypted configuration management — Store/update malware settings in encrypted configs.
  • Self-removal and anti-forensics — Hide activity, remove persistence, and delete traces.

Infrastructure analysis suggests that the hackers follow a partially decentralized operational model, in which multiple clusters share similar certificate-generation patterns and tooling but target distinct victim sets.

Lumen concludes that the tooling is likely shared across multiple China-aligned threat groups, each targeting different regions and using the same malware ecosystem.

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Trump’s EPA to roll back refrigerant rule for grocery stores in push it claims will lower prices | Trump administration

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The Trump administration is set to loosen a federal rule that requires grocery stores and air-conditioning companies to reduce greenhouse gases used in cooling equipment, in what officials say is a push to lower grocery costs.

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin, said the Biden-era rule imposes costly restrictions that limit the type of refrigerants US businesses and families can use.

The new rule will “allow businesses to choose the refrigeration systems that work best for them, saving them billions of dollars. This will be felt directly by American families in lower grocery prices,” Zeldin said in a statement released before a White House event on Thursday where Donald Trump is scheduled to announce the changes. Executives from Kroger, Piggly Wiggly and other grocery chains are expected to join him.

With voter concerns over the cost of living growing before pivotal elections in November, the Republican administration is trying to address affordability issues. It is not clear how much or how quickly the loosening of the refrigerant rule might ease grocery prices.

Inflation in the United States increased to 3.8% annually in April, amid price spikes caused by the Iran war and Trump’s sweeping tariffs. Inflation is now outpacing wage gains as the war has kept oil and gasoline prices high.

The administration’s action on refrigerants represents a reversal after Trump signed a law in his first term that aimed to reduce harmful, planet-warming pollutants emitted by refrigerators and air conditioners. That bipartisan measure brought environmentalists and major business groups into rare alignment on the contentious issue of the climate crisis and won praise across the political spectrum.

The 2020 law reflected a broad bipartisan consensus on the need to quickly phase out domestic use of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, that are thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide and are considered a major driver of global warming.

The EPA action highlights the second Trump administration’s drive to roll back regulations perceived as climate friendly. The plan is among a series of sweeping environmental changes that Zeldin has said will put a “dagger through the heart of climate change religion”.

Environmentalists have criticized the administration’s plans, saying a proposed rule announced last year would exacerbate climate pollution while disrupting a yearslong industry transition to new coolants as an alternative to HFCs.



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Democrats release 2024 election autopsy that chair says ‘does not meet my standards’


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Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin is publicly disowning his party’s own 2024 election “autopsy,” calling the long-delayed report a product that “does not meet my standards” after Democrats suffered what he described as a “painful and consequential” defeat to President Donald Trump.

The blunt admission came as Martin described Democrats’ 2024 defeat as a “punch to the gut” and acknowledged the party’s “brand is in trouble and needs repair.”

“I am not proud of this product; it does not meet my standards, and it won’t meet your standards,” Martin said of the report, adding that he could not “in good faith put the DNC’s stamp of approval on it.”

DNC Chair Ken Martin

Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee, speaks during an interview at DNC headquarters in Washington on Sunday, November 2, 2025. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

This is a developing news story; check back for updates.



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Neymar set to shake off injury scare to play for Brazil at World Cup | World Cup 2026 News

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All-time record Brazil scorer Neymar misses Santos draw with San Lorenzo in the Copa Sudamericana due to calf injury.

Neymar has suffered ‌a minor calf injury but is expected to recover in ⁠time to join ⁠Brazil’s camp next week, before the World Cup starting on June 11 in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The ⁠34-year-old, Brazil’s all-time leading scorer, was named in the squad on Monday, marking his return after a prolonged injury layoff that kept ⁠him out for much of the qualifying campaign, as Brazil chase a record-extending sixth title.

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Much of the build-up to the squad announcement centred on coach Carlo Ancelotti’s decision over whether to include Neymar.

The Italian, who took ‌charge of Brazil last year, had not previously recalled the former Barcelona and Paris St Germain attacker, who now plays for Santos and is set to feature at his fourth World Cup in pursuit of his first world title.

“Neymar has a minor calf injury, an oedema,” Santos’ head of medical services Rodrigo Zogaib told ⁠Brazil’s ge.globo on Wednesday. “But, according to our planning, ⁠his progress will allow him to be fit next week when he will join up with the national team.”

Neymar, who has 79 goals in 128 internationals and has not ⁠featured for Brazil since 2023, continues to face scrutiny over his fitness and form.

His stint at ⁠Saudi club Al-Hilal was disrupted by injuries, ⁠and he returned to boyhood club Santos last year but has struggled to recapture his form.

Neymar missed Santos’s 2-2 home draw with San Lorenzo in the Copa Sudamericana on ‌Wednesday.

Brazil open their World Cup campaign against Morocco on June 13 in New Jersey, before facing Haiti and Scotland in Group C.

They are ‌scheduled ‌to play warm-up matches against Panama on May 31 and Egypt in the lead-up to the tournament.



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Bear cubs spar on woman’s front porch in adorable viral nature video, reactions pour in


An incredible video featuring two young bear cubs is going viral for all the right reasons.

As our loyal readers know, nature content is like a drug for the Internet, whether it’s good or bad. You sometimes see the most heartwarming videos and images possible … only to then see a house of horrors unfold.

Fortunately, what we’re talking about today is the former and not the latter.

MASSIVE GRIZZLY BEAR AND WOLF CAUGHT ON CAMERA DEMOLISHING DEAD ANIMAL

A look at young bear cubs

Bear cubs are going viral for fighting on a woman’s porch. (Getty Images Creatives)

Bear cubs spar in viral video.

TikTok user @itskatiematey_ recently posted a video of a pair of bear cubs duking it out on a cabin porch while the mother watched it all unfold.

ABANDONED BEAR CUB, ‘UNDER ARREST FOR CUTENESS,’ GRABBED BY STATE TROOPERS FROM INTERSTATE HIGHWAY

Brown bear cub standing in a forest

A brown bear cub stands in a forest. (Getty Images Creatives)

“When you hear little feet pattering on your cabin porch and look out the window. Best start to our getaway,” she explained about the event that went down somewhere in the Smoky Mountains.

You can check out the adorable footage below, and let me know your thoughts at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.

People were quick to sound off in the comments with the following reactions:

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  • So cute
  • Let’s get ready to ruuumble!😁🥰😎
  • I’d be in Heaven
  • aww so cute
  • oh my how precious
  • nice, they are having fun
  • OH MY GOSH 🥺🥺🥺
Little bear cub standing on grass

A little bear cub (Ursus arctos) stands on grass in the wild. (Getty Images Creatives)

It’s nice to get a change of pace with the nature beat. We have too many examples to count of people testing fate. This one is the kind of video to put a smile on your face to start the day. Impossible to not smile. Let me know what you think at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.



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AI is doing their job and they worry it’s after their desk too

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Dev Ops 

Most software engineers now use AI for most of their code and fear the existential threat

A “state of Web Dev AI” survey shows that nearly half of web developers worry AI will displace their jobs, with one stating “it will be devastating to our sector.”

The survey of 7,258 developers is the second on this topic to be conducted by Devographics, home of other surveys including State of JavaScript and State of CSS. 

There are big changes since the first in early 2025, when the majority of respondents used AI to create less than 25 percent of their code, whereas today 63 percent of devs use AI to generate more than half their code. Over a quarter of respondents (27 percent) use AI for 90 percent or more of their code.

Code generation is the top AI use case, followed by code review, research, and debugging.

The researchers gathered respondents from those who had completed previous surveys plus others contacted via social media, and state that the topic may have “biased the respondent set towards developers who do have an interest in AI.”

Regarding job security, a common view is that although developer skills remain relevant in an AI world, their bosses may be convinced otherwise and let them go. 

“AI companies can convince employers that AI can take my job, even if it can’t,” said one. Another commented that they “already had to search for a new one, because my job as designer and frontend dev got cancelled for AI.”

There is concern over loss of skills as junior hires decrease. “Companies will rather spend the money on AI than train employees,” one commented.

The most used model provider is ChatGPT (88.4 percent), just ahead of Anthropic’s Claude (82.1 percent). When it comes to paid subscriptions though, Claude is the winner (69 percent), followed by ChatGPT (49 percent) and Google Gemini (32 percent).

Despite increased usage, the respondents are by no means AI enthusiasts. Use of AI for image generation has fallen since last year, from 38 percent to 37 percent, and some respondents have ethical objections. 

“I do not use image generators on principle,” said one, and another claimed “AI image generators are built entirely on stolen images.”

AI risks: web developers worry most about job displacement but other concerns are close behind

AI risks: web developers worry most about job displacement but other concerns are close behind

A general section on AI risks revealed a multitude of concerns: while job displacement topped the list, military use of AI, environmental impact, and AI slop takeover were not far behind. Security issues and rising costs were also areas of unease. The survey limited respondents to three top choices; many comments showed that they would have liked to pick more. 

From a technical perspective, the biggest issues cited were hallucination and inaccuracies (64 percent); poor code quality (53 percent) and lack of context (38 percent).

It is a strangely mixed picture, with respondents expressing strong reservations about the overall impact of AI, while at the same time becoming dependent on it. 74 percent agreed AI tools are integral to their workflow, and 64 percent felt they were more productive thanks to AI. 88 percent feel the quality of AI tools has improved significantly year on year.®



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Maths behind Hormuz toll: Is paying Iran for transit cheaper than blockade? | US-Israel war on Iran

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Eleven weeks after the start of the Iran war, the Strait of Hormuz has remained closed to naval traffic, bleeding the global economy far beyond the Gulf.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) maintains an iron grip over the narrow, strategic waterway, while a corresponding United States naval blockade on Iranian ports has failed to reopen it.

Before the war began, between 120 and 140 ships travelled through the strait each day, about half of them oil tankers carrying some 20 million barrels of oil between them.

Now, only a few vessels whose owners have negotiated with the IRGC are permitted to pass.

On Wednesday, Iran said it coordinated the transit of 26 vessels through the Strait of Hormuz in 24 hours, two days after announcing the formation of the Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA), a new body to provide “real-time updates” on operations in the strait.

Since the announcement of a temporary ceasefire between the US and Iran in April, Iran has been working on formalising a mechanism to charge a transit fee from ships crossing the critical chokepoint, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) are shipped during peacetime.

Tehran has reportedly already charged fees as high as $2m per ship for transit since the war started.

Even though countries opposing Tehran say this is illegal, it may still be less expensive than the overall cost of the closure of the strait each day.

So, is paying Iran cheaper than remaining stranded in the sea? We explore the maths behind tolling the Strait of Hormuz.

The Galaxy Globe bulk carrier and the Luojiashan tanker sit anchored as Iran vows to close the Strait of Hormuz,
The Galaxy Globe bulk carrier and the Luojiashan tanker sit anchored as Iran pledges to close the Strait of Hormuz, amid the US-Israel war on Iran, in Muscat, Oman, March 9, 2026 [Benoit Tessier/Reuters]

What is the closure of the Strait of Hormuz costing?

Nearly one-fifth of global oil and LNG exports were shipped by Gulf producers through the Strait of Hormuz before the US and Israel bombed Iran on February 28, triggering the Iranian closure of the waterway. The strait is the only waterway linking Gulf producers to the open ocean – there is no other route through which they can ship exports.

About 20.3 million barrels per day of oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz in peacetime – nearly 27 percent of global maritime oil trade. The lion’s share of that crude went to Asian markets.

Global LNG trade has been similarly hard hit.

On the day before the war broke out, Brent crude – the global benchmark for oil prices – closed at $72.48 per barrel. After Iran closed the waterway on March 4 and began attacks on vessels attempting to sail through, traffic came to a standstill, stranding about 2,000 ships on either side of the strait.

In terms of lost oil revenues, this amounts to $114.8bn of losses per day. About 10 billion cubic feet of LNG per day also used to pass through the strait, worth a further $7.8bn.

Since the blockade, less than 4 percent of peacetime traffic has passed through the Strait of Hormuz, including those ships that have secured authorisation from Iranian authorities. This does not include the movement of “shadow” fleets, when vessels illegally turn off tracking devices.

“From an economic perspective, a negotiated transit arrangement [with Iran] now makes more sense than continued closure,” said Mohammad Reza Farzanegan, an economist at Germany’s Marburg University. “The geography gives Iran significant leverage, and the recent crisis has shown that Tehran can use control over the Strait of Hormuz in practice.”

Iran is unlikely to give up this leverage without a political or economic arrangement that recognises its strategic position, added Farzanegan.

The economic impact of blockading the Strait of Hormuz also goes beyond traffic flow. The disruption in the flow of oil, gas, fertilisers and maritime traffic in general has left several countries reeling under a rising cost of living.

TOPSHOT - A photo illustration taken in Nicosia on May 4, 2026, shows a person in front of a large screen displaying vessel movements in the Strait of Hormuz on a ship-tracking website.
A photo illustration taken in Nicosia, Cyprus, on May 4, 2026, shows a person in front of a large screen displaying vessel movements in the Strait of Hormuz on a ship-tracking website [AFP]

So, is paying a toll to Iran cheaper?

For hundreds of ships stranded in the Gulf with thousands of sailors on board, the cost of remaining anchored is steep, including crew wages, loan repayments, repair and management, coupled with inflated war risk premiums.

In turn, Iran has reportedly been charging up to $2m for authorisation to pass. Experts say many will see this as worthwhile purely in terms of monetary cost.

“There is no doubt that paying Iran is cheaper than a continuous blockade because a sitting tanker bleeds money,” said Nader Habibi, an Iranian American economist.

There are other factors to consider, however, he told Al Jazeera.

“It makes sense from an economic point of view, but it is not politically feasible,” he said. “The companies are under pressure from the US sanctions and not to make arrangements with Iran.

“This is not just a purely economic cost-benefit analysis,” Habibi continued, “but long-term considerations that are taken into account.”

The nature of the war has also changed since it broke out in February, said Aniseh Tabrizi, an associate fellow on the Middle East and North Africa Programme at think tank Chatham House. “From fighting, to an economic war, trying to strain either party to cave in,” she said.

While it may seem that the economics of the closure of the strait are currently skewed towards Iran, Tabrizi told Al Jazeera, “the economics by itself is not going to be the driver to change calculation or move from the current standpoint.”

She noted that Iran and the US need to reach a “diplomatic compromise, with other calculations linked in to the economic factor”, before there can be an end to the energy supply crisis.

What does international law say about tolls on shipping?

International law protects free transit through strategic waters such as natural straits like Hormuz, barring countries from imposing passage tolls even where the waterways fall entirely into territorial waters, like in the case of Hormuz.

However, services such as security controls, inspections and insurance regimes can be charged for.

Chargeable fees also partly depend on whether a waterway is a man-made passageway or a natural one.

These are three different precedents in maritime traffic flow:

  • Panama Canal: An artificial waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Vessels pass through a unique system of locks that raise and lower vessels across elevated terrain. Since Panama built, maintains and operates the canal, it can charge transit fees based on vessel size, cargo capacity and booking priority. These range from several hundred thousand dollars per transit to some slots sold for millions of dollars.
  • Suez Canal: Another artificial canal, linking the Mediterranean and Red seas. Egypt charges transit fees for the use of canal infrastructure, maintenance and traffic management services through the narrow waterway. Container ships and oil tankers pay from several hundred thousand dollars to more than one million dollars per voyage.
  • Turkiye’s Bosporus Strait and Dardanelles: These are different because they are natural straits, rather than man-made canals. Turkiye charges for navigation-related services such as lighthouse operations, rescue readiness, medical support and traffic management – and tightly controls ship scheduling and navigation.

Economist Farzanegan said Iran, like Turkiye, could justify a negotiated mechanism for transit fees or service-based contributions through natural straits as payment for maintaining a safe passageway, reducing environmental risks and providing predictability in a waterway that supports global energy, food and technology supply chains.

However, there are differences between Turkiye and Iran, Habibi said.

In Turkiye’s case, the transit passes entirely through Turkish territorial waters, so the waterway belongs only to one country. The Strait of Hormuz passes through the territorial waters of Iran and Oman, with external parts reaching the United Arab Emirates.

“This sort of arrangement is unprecedented, and there would not be such an outcome, unless there is a complete coordination between the GCC countries and Iran, with the approval of major international powers, such as China and the United States,” Habibi told Al Jazeera.

INTERACTIVE - IRGC releases map of control over Strait of Hormuz - May 5, 2026-1777975253
(Al Jazeera)

Can there be regional cooperation over the Strait of Hormuz?

Iran’s newly-formed PGSA published a new map of Hormuz, stretching from Kuh-e Mubarak in Iran to south of Fujairah, in the UAE, at the eastern entrance of the strait, and from the tip of Qeshm Island to Umm al-Quwain at the western entrance.

Given how the Iran war has spilled over into the Gulf region – with the UAE taking the brunt of Iranian strikes – economist Farzanegan said “regional cooperation with Iran is the most realistic path to stable transit through the Strait of Hormuz.”

The UAE, Oman, Qatar and Iran will have to work together because their economies require it, he argued.

A workable arrangement could include a joint maritime authority, shared monitoring, emergency coordination, environmental protection and service-based contributions for maintaining safe passage, Farzanegan told Al Jazeera.

“This would give Iran a recognised role in the security of the waterway while giving Persian Gulf economies more predictability,” he added. “Such a framework is also more realistic than relying on external military enforcement, which has been more a source of trouble for these states.”

Nader, the Iranian American economist, however, said he sees a regional arrangement as unlikely, “unless Iran shares the transit fee according to an agreement among all countries involved”.

Farzanegan added that if the world expects stable access to the Strait of Hormuz, then paying Iran could well be accepted as the price of keeping the vital waterway predictable.



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