Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Posted on 03/26/2026 7:27:16 AM PDT by Freeleesy
In the early 19th century, the Barbary Pirates—Muslim corsairs from North Africa's Islamic states—terrorized the Mediterranean and Atlantic, seizing ships, enslaving crews, and demanding tribute from nations too weak or unwilling to fight back. European powers and the young United States eventually crushed them with cannon fire and resolve. Today, history repeats in the Persian Gulf, but on a far grander, more menacing scale. The **Islamic Republic of Iran**—a regime steeped in theocratic fascism, jihadist ideology, and centuries-old supremacist impulses—has revived the pirate's playbook with 21st-century sophistication.
According to recent reporting, Tehran has begun charging select commercial vessels **transit "fees"** through the **Strait of Hormuz**, with demands reaching as high as **$2 million per voyage**. These are not official tariffs or legitimate sovereign dues. They are ad hoc extortion rackets: pay up for "safe passage," or risk harassment, seizure, or worse from Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the regime's maritime muscle. Some ships have already coughed up the cash. Others navigate under the shadow of Iranian threats. This isn't governance; it's piracy dressed in clerical robes.
The Strait of Hormuz is no ordinary waterway. It carries roughly **20% of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas**. Choke it, tax it, or terrorize it, and you squeeze the global economy by the throat—higher fuel prices, disrupted supply chains, inflation for billions. Iran knows this. For decades, its mullahs and generals have brandished the strait as a weapon: mining it, attacking tankers, proxy-swarming with speedboats, and issuing apocalyptic threats rooted in their apocalyptic Shia eschatology. Now, amid escalating conflict, they formalize the shakedown. Iranian lawmakers openly boast about it, framing the loot as proof of "strength" and a necessary cost of "war." One parliamentarian declared it reflects Tehran's "sovereign regime" over the passage. In reality, it exposes the regime's nature: a parasitic fascist entity that produces little of value but extracts tribute through fear.
This is classic **Islamic supremacism** in action. The regime's ideology—Khomeinist, expansionist, and hostile to "infidel" powers—views the world as divided between the House of Islam (under their twisted rule) and the House of War. Non-Muslims, or even insufficiently submissive Muslims, must submit, pay jizya-like protection money, or face the sword (or speedboat drones and missiles). The Barbary Pirates justified their raids with Quranic calls to jihad and plunder. Iran's IRGC does the same, blending medieval theology with modern ballistic missiles and asymmetric warfare. They don't build; they blockade, they bomb proxies, they enrich themselves on smuggled oil and Western ransoms while their people starve under sanctions and mismanagement.
The world has tolerated this for too long. Western capitals dithered with "deals," appeasement, and frozen assets. Gulf states paid quiet danegeld. Shipping firms weighed insurance premiums against the risk of Iranian capture. Meanwhile, the regime funds Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthis, and other terror tentacles, all while racing toward nuclear breakout. Charging $2 million "tolls" is merely the latest symptom of a deeper sickness: a fascist theocracy that treats international waters as its personal fiefdom and the global energy market as an ATM.
Free navigation through Hormuz is not a favor Iran grants; it is a **universal right** under international law and basic human commerce. No single regime—especially one that hangs dissidents, stones women, and chants "Death to America"—should dictate terms to the world's lifelines. History shows the remedy for Barbary-style piracy: overwhelming naval power, targeted strikes on enablers, and zero tolerance for tribute. The United States and its partners sank the old pirates. The modern ones in Tehran deserve the same unambiguous message: the age of ransom is over.
The Islamic Republic isn't a normal country with legitimate grievances. It is a revolutionary death cult masquerading as a state, holding the world economically hostage while exporting chaos. Until that regime is confronted, contained, or collapses under its own tyrannical weight, the "transit fees" will only grow bolder—and the pirates will keep laughing from their fortified shores.
_
Iran Charges Some Ships Hormuz Transit Fees for Safe Passage. By Salma El Wardany, Fiona MacDonald, Ben Bartenstein, and Samy Adghirni. Bloomberg News, March 24, 2026. [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-24/iran-charges-some-ships-hormuz-transit-fees-for-safe-passage]
|
|
Click here: to donate by Credit Card Or here: to donate by PayPal Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you very much and God bless you. |
The more things change...
Thanks for this post
True dat!!! Not only were the US Marines created to storm “the shores of Tripoly”, but Jefferson commissioned the building of the first warships to open shipping in those straits, and Lords of London was right there, getting rich off the spoils, just like now.
These would mostly be submerged as oil weighs about as much as water.
They could be given protective wings to protect again missile and torpedo attack, motors to move them, and a guidance system.
They could be run through the Strait when wind would blow any oil slick onto Iranian shores.
India and the Europeans could build them as they need the oil.
******
The construction of a Liberty ship at the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyards, Baltimore, Maryland, in March/April 1943
Day 2 : Laying of the keel plates
Day 6 : Bulkheads and girders below the second deck are in place.
Day 10 : Lower deck being completed and the upper deck amidship erected
Day 14 : Upper deck erected and mast houses and the after-deck house in place
Day 24 : Ship ready for launching
damn spell check! Lloyds of London! (they had private deals with the pirates, which excluded US shipping, so the pirates were more prone to attack US ships)
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 God bless America. 🇺🇲🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Did you mean to say the Lords of Flatbush?
While the Continental Marines were formed during the Revolution, the modern United States Marine Corps was created in 1798 in anticipation of the Quasi War with France. The Marines weren’t sent to Tripoli until 1801.
the Barbary Pirates
How many know that history?
https://www.thoughtco.com/young-u-s-navy-battled-north-african-pirates-1773650
The IR cannot be allowed to hold the world hostage to ensure their continued rein of terror. This should have been done decades ago.
The IR cannot be allowed to hold the world hostage to ensure their continued rein of terror. This should have been done decades ago.
Thomas Jefferson - first anti Jihad prez.
Kinda reminds me of Operation Push.Give us money or Jesse Jackson will call your corporation racist. ATT coughed up $500k to keep them quiet, a cost of doing business I guess.
THIS was one of the main reasons that Africa got colonized. Their unwillingness to end the slave trade was another.
Ping
Ping
These are not official tariffs or legitimate sovereign dues.
But seriously, how do we know this? Who determines what is or is not "legitimate"?
Free navigation through Hormuz is not a favor Iran grants; it is a **universal right** under international law and basic human commerce.
Freedom of Navigation as a concept (notwithstanding that it's a relatively recent development in international law, relatively speaking) deals with international waters, which the Strait of Hormuz in particular lies on that threshold of "transit passage" through territorial waters: "The transit passage legal regime assumes uninterrupted navigation through international straits, while the law of naval warfare permits interference with shipping during armed conflict. At the same time, the law of self-defense evaluates proportionality in relation to the adversary state, even though disrupting a chokepoint can impose economic costs on dozens of neutral countries that depend on the route. International maritime law, despite its many rules, is not equipped for today’s globalized world and chokepoints. While the current article focuses on the Strait of Hormuz, the issue is much broader and can repeat in locations such as the Strait of Malacca, Bab el-Mandeb, or the Danish Straits. The issue is not simply whether particular actions in the strait violate existing international law, but whether the legal architecture governing maritime conflict is capable of regulating economic warfare in a deeply interconnected global economy."
Besides, the international law controlling maritime activities—the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea—is one that was not ratified by either Iran...or the United States.
This whole comment from the Elder of Ziyon blog comes off as one long rant that can be summarized as "How dare this country enact a threat within their territory that they've long promised to enact should they come under a sufficient level of attack??", and then complaining about the consequences thereof.
And based on everything I've seen and read thus far, the American government has mostly acted like the economic collateral damage from Iran's retaliation has been a surprise, when Iran has openly advertised for years that this is what they would do. In light of that, the very act of publicly calling it a surprise gives me little confidence (notwithstanding our less-than-stellar performance in the Middle East going back 20+ years) in the cohesiveness of our current strategy.
the American government has mostly acted like the economic collateral damage from Iran’s retaliation has been a surprise,
I surprised a few bullies in my youth and should have surprised more.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.