The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control warned on May 1 that U.S. and non-U.S. entities that make payments to Iran as part of its toll system for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz were at risk of incurring U.S. sanctions. OFAC added that U.S. people or U.S.-owned or -controlled foreign entities are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with Iran's government or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the main Iranian entity that has been negotiating such safe passage transactions.

Iran's IRGC has been demanding that vessels transiting the strait do so through a shipping corridor near the Iranian coast and pay a fee reportedly around $1 million per ship. Iranian officials have said they intend to maintain influence over ships passing through the strait after the war ends.