The European Union and Persian Gulf states have jointly urged Iran to maintain unrestricted access through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway where roughly 20 million barrels of oil pass through every single day. That’s about 20% of the global oil supply flowing through a channel you could almost see across on a clear afternoon.

The diplomatic pressure comes as Iran has imposed fees on vessels transiting the strait, demanding around $1 per barrel or up to $2 million per ship. Iran has been accepting bitcoin and stablecoins like USDT for those toll payments.

How we got here

The crisis traces back to February 28, 2026, when US-Israeli military strikes on Iran triggered a cascade of retaliatory measures….