Tehran Is Seeking to Cash In With Its Control of Hormuz --- Regime pursues plan to set transit fees, which the U.S. says would be a 'contagion'

 

Tehran has control of Hormuz because of efficient military use of drone and missile swarms. Those swarms and control of Hormuz are still there. Legalese can’t change results of the war.

 

Tehran's asymmetric advantage holds true on the water. Even with a tentative ceasefire and a memorandum of understanding signed with the U.S., Iran's effective physical control over the Strait of Hormuz remains unchanged.

Diplomatic agreements and naval escorts have not eliminated the underlying strategic reality that Tehran's missile, drone, and naval mine capabilities dictate the flow of maritime traffic.

•           Drone Attacks: Despite a fragile ceasefire, Iranian forces continue to challenge shipping. Iranian drones have struck commercial vessels transiting the waterway.

•           Operational Control: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) asserts that ships must adhere to routes dictated by Tehran and obtain authorization, threatening to "deal with" unauthorized vessels.

•           International Fallout: Because of active Iranian threats, the United Nations' International Maritime Organization paused its initiative to safely evacuate over 11,000 seafarers trapped in the region.

•           Blockade Disputes: While the U.S. insists that commercial ships must be able to pass through the Strait freely, Tehran maintains the upper hand through its persistent "kill box" strategy of land-based missile batteries, sea mines, and localized swarm tactics.

 

Since most Western politicians are lawyers, they try what they know, how to do – legalese. It looks funny: 

“MANAMA, Bahrain -- Iran is pushing to make billions of dollars from the Strait of Hormuz as the regime positions itself to manage the global oil artery it severed at the start of the war.

 

The Islamic Republic estimates charging for security, safety and environmental services in the strait would bring in $40 billion a year in revenue for states involved, said officials familiar with the matter. The idea, if implemented, would bring Tehran cash flow and control that it didn't command before the war.

 

The regime is looking to models around the world, including the Dardanelles, the officials said, where Turkey charges ships a tax known as the gold franc for passage to and from the Aegean Sea through the waterway.

 

Tehran is pitching the idea to the Mideast and as far afield as Beijing, Iranian officials said. It wants its Persian Gulf neighbors to be part of the deal and share the revenue, they said.

 

"Everyone needs to know that management of the strait will never return to the way it was before," said Iran's chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, during a visit Tuesday to Oman to discuss the proposals with its neighbor across the waterway.

 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio disputed the idea, saying Thursday tolls or fees would set a dangerous precedent that would spread and cause chaos. "The reality is that no country has the right to charge for the use of international waterways, and that will never be an acceptable condition of any deal," he said from Bahrain. Persian Gulf countries, he said, rejected the idea of charges.

 

The 60-day deal to end the fighting and reopen the waterway puts Iran in charge of demining it and insists on toll-free passage for ships during that period. The document also gives Iran, which doesn't recognize law governing the strait, a say in the future management of the shipping chokepoint.

 

The Strait of Hormuz is a battleground in negotiations to end the conflict. The war taught Iran the threat it can pose to shipping with missiles and drones gives it an on-off switch over the critical global trade route. President Trump's deal offers Iran the right to negotiate the administration of the passage long term.

 

Iran has set up an insurance firm it says shippers must use to cross the strait and warned transits outside its routes are dangerous and prohibited, Iranian state media reported.

 

The U.S. and Oman, along with other Persian Gulf nations, have said the strait should remain toll free. "There are no tolls, no insurance costs & no other charges of any kind being sought or received by Iran on ships traveling the Strait of Hormuz," Trump wrote in a social-media post Wednesday, without saying whether he would negotiate the issue.

 

Oman recognizes the convention banning tolls on maritime highways and its Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi reiterated in the meeting Thursday with Rubio in Bahrain that future arrangements for Hormuz wouldn't include transit fees. After talks this week, Iran and Oman said their discussions focused on services required in the management of the strait and their associated costs.

 

Tehran has discussed its proposal to charge service fees in talks with China and Egypt, said Iranian and mediating officials. Privately, Iranian officials have said they would be open to the U.S. joining such payment programs, an idea Trump has occasionally raised.

 

The Dardanelles -- the sliver of sea that splits Turkey between Europe and Asia -- is providing Iran with a model for Hormuz. The international waterway is covered by a 1936 convention that gives Ankara a mandate to demand shippers pay the so-called gold franc to cross it. The charge, set at $6.70 a ton for the year starting July 1, covers sanitary services, lighthouses and rescues. Ships moving from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean must go through the Dardanelles.

 

There are obstacles to Iran adopting a similar policy. Tehran has signed international and regional pacts that ban it from imposing unilateral payments on passing ships, said James Kraska, a maritime law professor at the U.S. Naval War College. Turkey's agreement can't automatically be applied to another nation, he said. Moreover, any service fees levied by Iran would need consensus of the 176 members of the International Maritime Organization.

 

Iran has justified charges in the Strait of Hormuz as a means to control the flow of military goods, after it alleged the U.S. used the strait to transport military supplies it later deployed to attack Iran, Iranian officials said. When asked for comment, the White House referred to Trump's comments about strait fees.

 

Another model that Gulf nations are examining is in the Strait of Malacca, which also is a global-energy chokepoint bordered by more than one country. The Malacca Straits Patrol, a multinational military force, could be a model for managing strait transits, said Mideast and European officials.” [1]

 

1. World News: Tehran Is Seeking to Cash In With Its Control of Hormuz --- Regime pursues plan to set transit fees, which the U.S. says would be a 'contagion'. Faucon, Benoit; Said, Summer; Paris, Costas; Gramer, Robbie.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 26 June 2026: A8. 

MBA laipsnių paklausa ir atlyginimai mažėja

„Šį baigimo sezoną daugelis naujai įgytų MBA laipsnių gavėjų randa mažiau darbo vietų ir mažesnius pradinius atlyginimus.

 

Nauja ataskaita rodo, kad pradinis vidutinis verslo administravimo magistro laipsnio turėtojų atlyginimas šiais metais turėtų sumažėti iki 120 000 USD, palyginti su 125 000 USD 2025 m., rodo daugiau nei 600 įmonių įdarbintojų apklausa, kurią atliko Absolventų vadybos priėmimo taryba – ne pelno siekianti 228 verslo mokyklų asociacija.

 

Įdarbintojai taip pat prognozuoja, kad kitų verslo magistro laipsnių turėtojų atlyginimai sumažės apie 10 % iki 82 500 USD per metus, palyginti su 92 500 USD.

 

Naujų MBA laipsnių turėtojų darbo perspektyvos taip pat neaiškios.

 

Po praėjusių metų baigimo sezono net kai kuriems aukščiausio lygio MBA absolventams buvo sunku įsidarbinti praėjus keliems mėnesiams po to, kai jie baigė savo universitetus. Šiais metais daugiau nei trečdalis apklaustų darbdavių teigė, kad planuoja įdarbinti daugiau MBA laipsnių turėtojų nei praėjusiais metais. 2025 m. tik 13 % apklaustų darbdavių galiausiai įdarbino daugiau MBA absolventų nei ankstesniais metais.

 

Nepaisant optimistinių įdarbinimo perspektyvų, GMAC tyrėjai atkreipia dėmesį, kad istoriniai duomenys rodo, jog darbdaviai dažnai prognozuoja didesnį MBA absolventų įdarbinimą bet kuriais metais, nei jie galiausiai įdarbina. Nors 90 % įdarbintojų prognozavo, kad praėjusiais metais įdarbins MBA programų absolventus, 88 % tai padarė.

 

Įdarbinimo atotrūkis buvo didesnis kitų verslo studijų programų srityje. Pavyzdžiui, nors 74 % darbdavių prognozavo, kad praėjusiais metais įdarbins žmones su finansų magistro laipsniu, 68 % įvykdė šiuos įsipareigojimus.

 

Nors GMAC pranešė, kad darbdaviai teigė, jog esminis verslo laipsnio vertės pasiūlymas išlieka nepakitęs, jie taip pat vis labiau nerimauja dėl absolventų dirbtinio intelekto įgūdžių.

 

Timas Westerbeckas, aukštojo mokslo konsultacijų įmonės „Eduvantis“ pirmininko pavaduotojas, teigė, kad MBA buvo sukurta absolventams, norintiems įsitvirtinti konsultavimo ir finansų srityje, einant analitiko pareigas – pareigas, kurias DI struktūriškai sugeria. Kai net 20 % geriausių MBA absolventų neranda norimo darbo, jų diplomų rinka keičiasi nuolat.

 

Nors „tai ne nekrologas, MBA lygio darbo rinka gali nuolat mažėti“, – sakė Westerbeckas.

 

Keletas išorinių veiksnių, kurie praėjusiais metais turėjo įtakos įdarbinimui, įskaitant infliacijos ar recesijos baimes, šiais metais neturi tokios didelės įtakos, teigia apklausti įdarbintojai. Tačiau dirbtinis intelektas yra svarbus.

 

Vienas iš trijų apklaustų įmonių darbdavių teigė, kad dirbtinis intelektas pradeda pertvarkyti įdarbinimo planus, o kai kurias pradinio lygio darbo vietas pakeičia technologijos. Be to, vyresnio amžiaus darbuotojai lieka savo vietose, todėl darbuotojų kaita yra mažesnė.

 

Nepaisant to, GMAC analizė parodė, kad Amerikos MBA absolventai vis dar tikisi uždirbti daugiau nei kiti darbuotojai, kurie ateina tiesiai iš pramonės, ir kad MBA diplomą turintys asmenys ir toliau gauna didesnį pradinį atlyginimą, palyginti su kandidatais, turinčiais bakalauro laipsnį. laipsnius.

 

Verslo mokyklų absolventai dažnai renkasi finansų, konsultavimo, technologijų ir profesinių paslaugų sektorius – „būtent tuos sektorius, kuriuose užimtumas mažėja labiausiai“, – teigė Gadas Levanonas, vyriausiasis ekonomistas darbo rinkos analitiniame centre „Burning Glass Institute“.

 

Šiais metais ypač nukentėjo tarptautiniai studentai, įgiję verslo administravimo magistro (MBA) laipsnį, tikėdamiesi įsidarbinti JAV. Tarp apklaustų Amerikos darbdavių maždaug keturi iš dešimties teigė, kad sumažintų tarptautinių darbo kandidatų samdymą.“ [1]

 

 

1. Demand and Pay for M.B.A.s Fall. Smith, Ray A.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 26 June 2026: B1.  

Demand and Pay for M.B.A.s Fall

“This graduation season, many newly minted M.B.A.s are finding fewer job openings and lower starting salaries.

 

A new report shows the starting median salary for master of business administration degree holders this year is projected to fall to $120,000, from $125,000 in 2025, according to a survey of more than 600 corporate recruiters by the Graduate Management Admission Council, a nonprofit association of 228 business schools.

 

Recruiters also forecast that salaries for holders of other business master's degrees would slide about 10% to $82,500 a year, from $92,500.

 

Job prospects for new M.B.A.s are also uncertain.

 

After last year's graduation season, even some top-tier M.B.A. graduates struggled to land jobs several months after leaving their universities. This year, over a third of employers surveyed said they planned to hire more M.B.A.s than last year. In 2025, only 13% of employers surveyed ended up hiring more M.B.A.s than they had the prior year.

 

Despite that optimistic recruiting outlook, GMAC researchers point out that historical data shows that employers often predict greater hiring of M.B.A.s for any given year than they end up making. While 90% of recruiters predicted they would hire graduates of M.B.A. programs last year, 88% ended up doing so.

 

The hiring gap was wider for other business degrees. For example, while 74% of employers projected they would hire people with a master of finance degree last year, 68% followed through on those hires.

 

While GMAC reported that employers said the fundamental value proposition of a business degree remains intact, they also increasingly worry about graduates' artificial-intelligence proficiency.

 

Tim Westerbeck, co-chairman of the higher-education consulting firm Eduvantis, said the M.B.A. was built for graduates to get a foothold in consulting and finance with analyst jobs -- the positions that AI is structurally absorbing. When even the top 20% of M.B.A. graduates can't find the type of roles they want, the market for their degrees is changing in a permanent way.

 

While "this isn't an obituary, the market for M.B.A.-level work may be shrinking, permanently, to a smaller size," Westerbeck said.

 

Several outside factors that weighed on hiring last year -- including fears of inflation or recession -- aren't having as great an influence this year, according to the recruiters surveyed. But AI looms large.

 

One in three corporate employers polled said AI was beginning to reorder hiring plans, with some entry-level jobs replaced by the technology. On top of that, older workers have been staying put, leading to less turnover.

 

Even so, GMAC's analysis found that America's M.B.A. graduates are still expected to outearn other hires who come directly from industry and that holders of M.B.A.s continue to get a starting-salary premium compared with applicants with bachelor's degrees.

 

Business-school graduates often funnel into finance, consulting, tech and professional services, "exactly the sectors where employment is declining the most," said Gad Levanon, chief economist at the Burning Glass Institute, a labor-market think tank.

 

Particularly affected this year: international students who earned M.B.A.s in the hope of landing a job in the U.S. Among American employers polled, about four in 10 said they would decrease hiring of international job candidates.” [1]

 

1. Demand and Pay for M.B.A.s Fall. Smith, Ray A.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 26 June 2026: B1.  

„Anthropic“ įsprausta į, Amerikos vyriausybės iškastą, duobę dėl per garsaus rėkimo ir toliau tą duobę kasa: „Anthropic“ teigia, kad „Alibaba“ prisijungė prie „Claude“ dirbtinio intelekto modelio

 

Amerikos prekybos departamentas, nurodydamas nacionalinio saugumo riziką, apribojo pažangiausius „Anthropic“ modelius, todėl „Anthropic“ užblokavo prieigą prie jų visame pasaulyje. Nėra prieigos – nėra pelno. Kvailiai mes, oi kvailiai. 

 

„JAV dirbtinio intelekto laboratorija „Anthropic“ apkaltino Kinijos elektroninės prekybos milžinę „Alibaba“ neteisėtu prisijungimu prie savo pažangiausio modelio „Claude“, kad pasinaudotų jos pajėgumais.

 

Laiške, kurį peržiūrėjo „The Wall Street Journal“, „Anthropic“ teigė, kad „Alibaba“ ir jos dirbtinio intelekto padalinys iki šiol atliko „didžiausią žinomą distiliavimo ataką“ prieš bendrovę.

 

Atakos, kurių metu modelis apmokomas pagal stipresnio modelio rezultatus, paverčia „milijardus dolerių Amerikos investicijų ir mokslinių tyrimų bei plėtros į didžiulę subsidiją mūsų geopolitiniams konkurentams“, – teigiama pranešime.

 

Birželio 10 d. laiškas buvo adresuotas JAV senatoriams Timui Scottui (R., S.C.) ir Elizabeth Warren (D., Masačusetsas) ir jame teigiama, kad „Alibaba“ sukūrė beveik 25 000 netikrų paskyrų, kad galėtų pasiekti „Claude“ per 29 milijonus mainų su dirbtinio intelekto modeliu, kuris nėra prieinamas subjektams Kinijoje.

 

Laiške teigiama, kad „Alibaba“ kampanija buvo nukreipta į kai kuriuos vertingiausius Claude'o gebėjimus, tokius kaip agentinis samprotavimas, programinės įrangos inžinerija ir ilgalaikės užduotys.“

 

„Anthropic“ atstovas spaudai atsisakė komentuoti laiško turinį, tačiau teigė: „Manome, kad kovai su neteisėtos distiliacijos grėsme reikalingi koordinuoti vyriausybės ir pramonės veiksmai, ir mes toliau bendradarbiausime su Kongresu ir administracija, kad išlaikytume Amerikos DI lyderystę.“

 

„Alibaba“ neatsakė į prašymą pateikti komentarą.

 

Tai ne pirmas kartas, kai „Anthropic“ teigia, kad Kinijos DI laboratorijos naudoja jos technologiją savo DI modeliams apmokyti.

 

Vasario mėnesį paskelbtame tinklaraščio įraše „Anthropic“ teigė, kad nustatė pramoninio masto kampanijas, kurias vykdė trys DI laboratorijos, siekdamos išgauti Claude'o gebėjimus.

 

Naujausi kaltinimai pasirodė po to, kai Trumpo administracija balandžio mėnesį paskelbė memorandumą, kuriame teigiama, kad užsienio subjektai, daugiausia įsikūrę Kinijoje, dalyvauja pramoninio masto kampanijose, skirtose distiliuoti JAV pasienio DI sistemas.

 

„Anthropic“ laiške teigiama, kad bendrovė remia Vašingtono pastangas kovoti su tokiomis atakomis, kartu ragindama daugiau veiksmų siekiant apsaugoti Amerikos dirbtinį intelektą, įskaitant griežtesnę lustų kontrolę ir teisės aktus, skirtus bausti dirbtinio intelekto laboratorijas, kurios užsiima distiliavimu.

 

„Alibaba“ akcijų kaina ketvirtadienį Honkonge krito 4,4 %, atsilikdama nuo „Hang Seng Tech“ indekso 1,43 % kritimo.

 

Tačiau tai įvyko kartu su platesniu kitų Kinijos technologijų bendrovių, prekiaujančių Honkonge, akcijų kritimu.

 

„Atsižvelgiant į tai, kad tai ne pirmas distiliavimo kaltinimas, nukreiptas prieš Kinijos įmones, manau, kad reputacijos žala bus nedidelė“, – sakė Laila Khawaja, „Gavekal Technologies“ tyrimų direktorė.

 

Svarbu, ar „Anthropic“ imsis tolesnių priemonių kovai su distiliavimu ir ar jos pakartotiniai skundai JAV vyriausybei paskatins konkretesnę su „Anthropic“ susijusią eksporto kontrolę, sakė ji.“ [1]

 

1. Business News: Anthropic Claims Alibaba Accessed Claude AI Model. Chau, Jason; Qu, Tracy.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 26 June 2026: B3. 

Anthropic Is Put in a Hole by American Government For Shouting Too Loudly and Keeps Digging: Anthropic Claims Alibaba Accessed Claude AI Model

 

American Commerce Department cited national security risks and imposed restrictions on Anthropic's most advanced models, leading Anthropic to disable global access to them. No access – no profits. Stupid us.

 

“U.S. artificial-intelligence lab Anthropic has accused Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba of "illicitly" accessing its frontier model Claude to harvest its capabilities.

 

In a letter viewed by The Wall Street Journal, Anthropic claimed that Alibaba and its AI unit conducted "the largest known distillation attack" on the company to date.

 

The attacks, which involve training a model on the outputs of a stronger one, are turning "billions of dollars in American investment and R&D into a massive subsidy for our geopolitical competitors," it said.

 

The letter, dated June 10, was addressed to U.S. Senators Tim Scott (R., S.C.) and Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) and claimed Alibaba created almost 25,000 fake accounts to access Claude through 29 million exchanges with the AI model, which is not available to entities in China.

 

According to the letter, "Alibaba's campaign targeted some of Claude's most valuable capabilities, such as agentic reasoning, software engineering, and long-horizon tasks."

 

An Anthropic spokesperson declined to comment on the contents of the letter but said: "We believe combating the threat of illicit distillation requires coordinated action between government and industry, and we will continue working with Congress and the Administration to maintain American AI leadership."

 

Alibaba didn't respond to a request for comment.

 

It's not the first time Anthropic has said Chinese AI labs are using its technology to train their own AI models.

 

In a blog post in February, Anthropic said it had identified industrial-scale campaigns by three AI laboratories to extract Claude's capabilities.

 

The latest accusations come after the Trump administration issued a memorandum in April saying foreign entities, principally based in China, are engaged in industrial-scale campaigns to distill U.S. frontier AI systems.

 

Anthropic's letter said the company is supportive of Washington's efforts to combat such attacks, while also calling for more action to secure American AI, including tightening chip controls and legislation to penalize AI labs found to be engaging in distillation.

 

Alibaba shares dropped 4.4% Thursday in Hong Kong, underperforming the Hang Seng Tech Index's 1.43% decline.

 

But that came alongside a broader decline in other China tech majors trading in Hong Kong.

 

"Given this is not the first distillation allegation targeting Chinese firms, I expect the reputational damage to be small," said Laila Khawaja, a research director at Gavekal Technologies.

 

What matters is whether Anthropic will take further measures to crack down on distillation, and whether its repeated complaints to the U.S. government will lead to more concrete Anthropic-related export controls, she said.” [1]

 

1. Business News: Anthropic Claims Alibaba Accessed Claude AI Model. Chau, Jason; Qu, Tracy.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 26 June 2026: B3.