Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA)
What the Persian Gulf Strait Authority is, its link to the IRGC, the U.S. sanctions implications of paying it, and how to tell the real entity from the payment scams impersonating it.
Summary. The Persian Gulf Strait Authority is an Iranian state body announced in April 2026 to charge for transit through the Strait of Hormuz, operating via the domain pgsa.ir and the address info@pgsa.ir. Per Iranian state media it is the official interface to the IRGC — a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. U.S. Treasury OFAC has indicated it will sanction entities that pay Iran for transit, and any request for cryptocurrency is fraudulent. This site, PGSA.IO, is an independent observer — not the Authority.
What the Persian Gulf Strait Authority is
In March 2026 the Iranian government announced it would begin charging for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. On approximately 22 April 2026 it formalised the arrangement by establishing a dedicated body — the Persian Gulf Strait Authority — and the domain pgsa.ir. Per Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) and coverage in The Maritime Executive, the Authority was designated as the official interface to the IRGC for transit correspondence, with info@pgsa.ir as the contact address. PGSA.IO recorded the event in its live incident feed.
Its link to the IRGC
Per Iranian state media, the Persian Gulf Strait Authority serves as the correspondence interface to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which controls the islands dominating the northern approaches to the strait and operates IRGCN surface and fast-attack assets in the area. The IRGC is a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (U.S. Department of State, 8 April 2019) and appears on the U.S. Treasury OFAC SDN list. See pgsa.ir explained for the full operator assessment.
Transit fees, permits and the 60-day window
Iran announced transit charges in March 2026 and the Authority to administer them. A 60-day U.S.–Iran memorandum of understanding reached in mid-June 2026 calls for best-effort safe passage at no charge during the window, while Iran has continued to assert a permit-and-insurance regime (pre-registration plus an Iranian-approved "hull war voyage insurance"). The U.S. has pledged the strait should remain toll-free. Treat any fee or payment demand citing the Authority as a sanctions and fraud risk until verified. The chronology of relevant U.S. actions is digested in OFAC Iran transit guidance.
The pgsa.ir impersonation scam
The Authority's announcement triggered an immediate proliferation of fraudulent intermediaries soliciting cryptocurrency payments from vessel operators, mimicking the pgsa.ir domain and email conventions. Any communication requesting cryptocurrency payment (USDT, BTC, or similar) is fraudulent — no legitimate state authority demands crypto. The PGSA scam watch tracks known impersonators and indicators.
PGSA.IO is not the Persian Gulf Strait Authority
This website — PGSA.IO (Persian Gulf Strait Awareness) — is an independent, non-governmental open-source intelligence observatory. It is not the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, is not affiliated with pgsa.ir, the IRGC, or the Government of Iran, and never issues transit authorisations, brokers arrangements, or accepts payment of any kind. It exists so shipowners, charterers, agents and their advisors have one sober, non-paywalled reference. See About PGSA.IO for the full independence statement.
How to verify a communication
Before responding to anything claiming to be from the Persian Gulf Strait Authority or pgsa.ir, the authoritative reference points are your flag state, your P&I club loss-prevention desk, your charterer, and UKMTO (+971 50 552 3215, 24/7) — contacted via your standard channels, never via a number in an unsolicited message. See the FAQ for common verification questions and the Strait of Hormuz transit cross-walk for the legitimate, no-fee transit routes.