Israeli Intelligence Official Says Iran Is Charging Ships in Strait of Hormuz

The substantive claim is well supported by independent reporting. Reuters says Iran wanted to charge ships transit fees through the Strait of Hormuz, directly confirming the charging-ships part. Al Jazeera reports the IRGC had already set up a 'toll booth' system in which operators had to submit details for vetting and use pre-approved routes, which matches the assertion that Iran's Revolutionary Guards controlled passage and decided which vessels could transit. AP/PBS similarly reports some ships got through after negotiations and that Iran may have created a safe corridor, reinforcing selective passage control. CSIS further supports that Iran effectively shut down most traffic and threatened ships attempting passage. However, I could not verify the exact attribution to an 'Israeli intelligence official' from the provided X or BlockBeats links because those pages were not fetchable, and the traced CCTV source did not yield usable content. So the exact speaker attribution remains unverified even though the underlying substance appears accurate.