Frequently asked questions

Questions shipowners, charterers, and ship's agents are asking about Strait of Hormuz transit, pgsa.ir invoices, USDT demands, and OFAC exposure. Each answer cites at least one primary source. Nothing here constitutes legal, financial, or transit advice; consult your flag state, P&I club, and counsel.

See also: pgsa.ir explained · Scam watch · OFAC Iran transit guidance

Do I have to pay pgsa.ir to transit the Strait of Hormuz?

No international law requires payment to pgsa.ir or any Iranian authority for Strait of Hormuz transit. The Strait is an international strait subject to the right of transit passage under UNCLOS Part III. Iran has announced a unilateral fee scheme via pgsa.ir, but neither the IMO, UKMTO, nor any other recognized maritime authority has endorsed or required it. Consult your flag state and P&I club before any response.

Is paying pgsa.ir a sanctions violation?

U.S. Treasury OFAC has indicated it will sanction entities that pay Iran for transit. pgsa.ir is operated as the official interface to the IRGC — a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization — for transit arrangements, per IRIB. Whether a specific payment constitutes a violation depends on the operator's jurisdictional nexus, flag state, ownership structure, and financial relationships. This is a question for qualified sanctions counsel; see the OFAC Iran sanctions program for the framework.

Are USDT or other cryptocurrency payment demands from pgsa.ir real?

No legitimate state maritime authority demands payment in cryptocurrency. Any communication requesting USDT, BTC, ETH, or other digital assets is fraudulent, regardless of how convincingly it references pgsa.ir or Iranian authorities. These vectors are documented on the PGSA scam watch; universal red flags are listed there. Report any such demand to your flag state and P&I club immediately.

Can pgsa.ir actually stop or board my vessel?

The IRGCN has conducted vessel seizures and boardings in the Strait of Hormuz and Persian Gulf on multiple documented occasions — most recently the seizure of the MSC Aries in April 2024, reported by Reuters. Whether pgsa.ir fee demands are directly linked to enforcement actions has not been independently established in the public record as of May 2026. Current kinetic incidents are tracked in the PGSA.IO live feed; coordinate all transits through UKMTO.

Is the IRGC the same as pgsa.ir?

pgsa.ir is not the IRGC itself, but per Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, it is the official correspondence interface to the IRGC for transit arrangements in the Strait of Hormuz. The IRGC was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. Department of State on 8 April 2019 — the first such designation of a component of another government. The IRGC also appears on the OFAC SDN list.

What should I do if my ship's agent received a pgsa.ir invoice?

Do not pay and do not respond to the sender. Preserve the original communication with full email headers, any attachments, and any referenced wallet addresses. Notify your flag state, your P&I club, and your charterer immediately. Report to UKMTO if the vessel is in or approaching the region. If a U.S. nexus exists, consider reporting to OFAC and the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov.

How do I verify a transit-fee invoice that claims to be from Iran?

Contact your flag-state administration via channels you already hold on file — not a number provided in the invoice. Contact your P&I club's loss-prevention desk via their standing emergency number. Check the sender domain against the known pgsa.ir domain; known impersonator variants include pgsa-authority.com, pgsa.org, and pgsa.gov.ir. Cross-reference the PGSA scam watch and pgsa.ir explainer. IMO flag-state contacts are published here.

What is "Project Freedom"?

Project Freedom is a U.S.-led outbound transit safety umbrella announced by U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) on 10 April 2026. It provides a coordinated corridor through Omani waters for outbound transits, with U.S. and partner naval escort. Participation carries no fee and registration is through UKMTO. Iran has stated opposition and has conducted attacks on participating vessels; see the PGSA.IO live feed for the current incident record.

Where do I report a suspected pgsa.ir impersonation?

Report to your flag state and P&I club. Report to UKMTO if the vessel is in or approaching the region. The IMB Piracy Reporting Centre operates a 24/7 line at +60 3 2031 0014. If a U.S. nexus exists, report to OFAC and FBI IC3. You can also forward indicators to info@pgsa.io for potential inclusion in the scam watch.

Is PGSA.IO affiliated with pgsa.ir?

No. PGSA.IO is an independent, non-governmental OSINT observatory with no affiliation with, endorsement from, or operational relationship with pgsa.ir, the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, the IRGC, or the Government of Iran. The similarity of names reflects shared subject matter — Strait of Hormuz transit awareness — not any organizational connection. See the full independence statement at About PGSA.IO.

Does PGSA.IO accept payment for any service?

No. PGSA.IO accepts no payment of any kind, issues no transit authorizations, brokers no transit arrangement, and hosts no contact form for transit inquiries. Anyone soliciting payment and claiming affiliation with PGSA.IO is fraudulent. The site operates one inbound email address — info@pgsa.io — for source corrections, scam reports, and OSINT tips only. See About for how that address is used.

How is the live feed on PGSA.IO sourced?

The site is statically rebuilt every 30 minutes from aggregated open sources: UKMTO, U.S. NAVCENT, Combined Maritime Forces, gCaptain, Maritime Executive, OFAC Recent Actions, and others. Iranian state media is included as an adversary signal and labeled as such. There is no live database, no user accounts, and no analytics tracker that profiles visitors. Full source list is on the homepage feed footer.