The Iranian parliament is drafting a bill that would impose a fee on vessels seeking safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

Fars, citing an unnamed lawmaker, said the plan would be finalised next week, and would legally recognise Iran’s oversight of Hormuz, a vital conduit which connects some of the world’s largest oil and gas producers in the Arabian Gulf with the wider world, The Caspian Post reports.

The narrow waterway has been all but closed since US and Israeli strikes on Iran began almost a month ago, and has become a focal point of the war. Only a trickle of ships have made their way through in the intervening weeks as Iran tightens control, most of them with Iranian or Chinese connections and a handful that have secured safe passage from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Tehran’s legislation would formalise a unilateral arrangement already widely reported by the shipping industry, with payments of as much as $2 million being sought from vessels as an informal toll. Crews have been asked through intermediaries for staff, cargo and voyage details and in some cases for a fee, though efforts have not been systematic.