SATISH SHARMA - not just Rotigraphy.: Report by the English newspaper The Telegraph titled: "Iran Has Weaponized Global Trade—and Other Countries Are Following Its Lead"

https://x.com/IzadiFoad/status/2056658871830082033

Translated from Persian

Report by the English newspaper The Telegraph titled: "Iran Has Weaponized Global Trade—and Other Countries Are Following Its Lead"

The report continues:

1- Several countries around the world are openly talking about imitating Tehran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz.

2- The Panama Canal is nearly 9,000 miles from the Strait of Hormuz. But they might as well be neighbors. In maritime trade, everything is connected. Before the war with Iran, ships paid about $140,000 per slot to pass through the Panama Canal. Now, the average price for passage slots has risen to one million dollars.

3- This isn’t just happening in Panama. Wherever you go, the ripples from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz can be seen across the shipping world.

4- Iran showed the world how a maritime chokepoint can be controlled with just a handful of drones and patrol boats. It’s a lesson that some countries seem eager to learn.

5- Ian Ralby, founder of the maritime consultancy Consilium, says Tehran has proven that tolls in a narrow strait can “provide real leverage in negotiations with the great powers. This strategy and approach will likely be imitated elsewhere, and it spells trouble for all of us.”

6- Some countries are now openly talking about imitating Tehran-style toll collection. Every narrow, blockable waterway is now potentially at risk. And whatever happens in one will impact the economies of the rest.

7- Richard Meade from Lloyd’s List Intelligence says: “In the Taiwan Strait, the Malacca Strait, the Danish Straits, Gibraltar, and other maritime chokepoints—any restriction on trade based on geopolitical fault lines will have consequences for the rest of global trade.”

8- Meanwhile, for those suffering the consequences of these tolls, the Strait of Hormuz has spurred planning for major alternatives. Last week, the United Arab Emirates announced it would double its oil pipeline network by 2027 to bypass Hormuz and send oil directly to a port in the Sea of Oman.

9- A week earlier, Thailand proposed building an entirely new land bridge to avoid the Malacca Strait. This wasn’t just a safety measure, but also an opportunity to collect lucrative tolls.

10- Trucks are now backed up on roads leading from the Persian Gulf to unclogged ports in the Sea of Oman and the Red Sea. But Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd, said in a podcast that these so-called “land bridge” options “don’t have sufficient capacity and are way too expensive.”

11- The maritime chokepoint revolution threatens to drive up insurance, energy, and transportation costs—and push the price of almost everything else higher.

12- Warning signs were already flashing even before Hormuz. Ukraine’s drone attacks on Russian oil tankers in the Black Sea had driven up insurance costs at that choke point.

13- Meanwhile, container shipping traffic in the Red Sea and Suez Canal has never recovered from the Houthi attacks on cargo ships in Yemen (in response to Israel’s assault on Gaza). The number of ships passing through the Suez Canal is still only half of 2023 levels.

14- But the Strait of Hormuz changed the game. The reason is that this blockade has been so effective, so easy, with such widespread global impacts. Richard Meade says: “The genie is out of the bottle.”

15- Professor Alessio Patallano from King’s College London says: “Please explain to me why any other country that has oversight of a strait of international value should say: ‘Yes, we’re going to be good boys and not collect tolls.’”

16- Patallano warns that it may not be long before Beijing exploits this potential breakdown in maritime norms. He says: “In many ways, we are normalizing China’s behavior in the South China Sea, or indeed in the Taiwan Strait. We really need to be careful about this.” The United States and the Philippines recently held annual military exercises near the South China Sea, signaling their awareness of this threat.

https://telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/05/19/iran-weaponised-world-trade-and-others-are-following-suit/
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In other words, Iran has proven to the world that it’s possible both to overthrow the shah’s coup regime and to reclaim the people’s economic rights from the coup plotters.

First Revolution: Overthrow of the Shah
Second Revolution: Expulsion of America from Iran
Third Revolution: The Maritime Chokepoint Revolution