Inside Iran's Expanding Hormuz Transit System: Checkpoints, Diplomatic Deals and Passage Fees

DUBAI, May 20 (Reuters) – The tanker crew gathered their courage and carefully navigated along a route designated by Iran, hugging the coastline and maneuvering their hulking vessel between island checkpoints through the Strait of Hormuz.

The 330-meter-long Agios Fanourios I, laden with Iraqi crude oil and bound for Vietnam, had been bottled up off the coast of Dubai since late April. But on May 10 it set off for the strait after a direct deal with Iran overseen by Iraq’s prime minister.

Iran’s orders to the tanker were part of a complex, multi-tiered mechanism that the