New Delhi, June 7 -- The number surfaced not from a government ministry or an IRGC press briefing, but from a budget committee. Mohsen Zanganeh, a member of the Iranian parliament's Planning and Budget Committee, told IRGC-affiliated Fars News on Sunday that Tehran is currently earning between $1.5 million and $2 million from each vessel that passes through the Strait of Hormuz - the first time a sitting lawmaker has put a concrete revenue figure on what Iran has framed, variously, as a service charge, an environmental fee, and a sovereign transit arrangement.

and that the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, which Iran stood up in May, is functioning as a revenue institution.

What the statement does not address is the dilemma now facing ever...