Iran’s sanctioned Persian Gulf Straits Authority (PGSA) regained secure online access for four days after a Shanghai-based internet security firm provided and then revoked its web credentials, enabling Tehran to vet vessels, collect Strait of Hormuz tolls and operate despite U.S. digital restrictions, global internet monitors said. TrustAsia issued an automated domain-validated certificate, a routine process that verifies control of a website domain through server checks and typically does not involve manual vetting or background checks. The move prompted U.S. sanctions experts, including Jeremy Paner, a partner at Hughes Hubbard & Reed, to urge TrustAsia to review its compliance program before offering further services to the IRGC-linked maritime authority — with Paner warning them to act "before it is too late." The PGSA first said its website was disrupted Aug. 10 because of "the enemy's political influence on the internet service provision systems," according to a post on X.
IRAN REQUESTS TALKS WITH US AS WHITE HOUSE WARNS 'VIOLENCE WILL BE MET WITH VIOLENCE' NetBlocks CEO Alp Toker told Fox News Digital that the authority had lost its web security credentials after the entity was added to the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions list on May 27. The loss of standard SSL/TLS certificates, Toker said, made the PGSA website inaccessible using standard browsers.
This forced shipping firms to use unencrypted connections that, according to Toker, could leave their data vulnerable to interception. While no data breaches resulting from the use of these connections have been made known, and there are no known instances in which a shipping firm’s data was intercepted and used to its detriment because of the certificate expiration, Toker said the site’s inaccessibility resulted in a shift to what he described as "insecure protocols." "The digital transparency records are authoritative on this," he said, adding that the measure forced the traffic into a format that could be readily intercepted. "This is a class of vulnerability open to government exploitation, rather than a corporate breach or personal data leak." Toker claimed this could make it easier for authorities to read communications sent through the platform, potentially identifying shipping firms collaborating with the PGSA.
TRUMP SAYS IRAN WILL PAY — WHAT IT TAKES TO END THE WAR REMAINS UNCLEAR "The net result was that the website was more difficult to access, because most web browsers strongly encourage the use of secure HTTPS," Toker said, adding that any form submissions could have been easily "eavesdropped on because they're no longer encrypted in transit." "The mentioned issue has been resolved, and the secure domain https://pgsa.ir is now once again available for submitting requests using any browser," the PGSA said six days later on Aug. 17 and in another post shared on X. "If the issue recurs in the future, the HTTP domain will again be temporarily available using the Firefox browser." Toker confirmed that Iran had turned to Shanghai-based certificate authority TrustAsia Technologies, which he said issued new digital security credentials to the PGSA despite the U.S. sanctions and restoring secure access to its website. "Iran’s IRGC extorts vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz through the so-called Persian Gulf Strait Authority," the Treasury Department said in May when designating the entity, adding that the PGSA "spearheads an Iranian-controlled scheme that flagrantly violates international law and U.S. sanctions." "Anyone cooperating with the so-called strait authority may be providing support to and receiving services from the IRGC, which ultimately benefits from this attempted extortion, and may therefore be exposed to sanctions risk," the Treasury Department warned.
The Chinese firm bills itself as a "leading and professionally certified certification authority in China with its focus on trusted, secure and cryptographic communications in the digital world." Its mission, it says, is to "Build trust everywhere in the digital world." "Almost all of these root authorities do business with the U.S., so they tend to comply with U.S. sanctions," Toker said. But TrustAsia, he noted, had "gone its own way, building a China-first certificate infrastructure that sidesteps the West." Toker said TrustAsia had "simply gone ahead and issued Iran's PGSA with a new certificate, and Iran was once again collecting revenue from ships passing the Strait via its secure online portal." TRUMP CALLS ON ARAB NATIONS TO SIGN ABRAHAM ACCORDS Paner warned that U.S. authorities would have enforcement powers over such actions. "The U.S. has incredibly broad authority to impose sanctions on non-Iranian companies that provide any sorts of services to sanctioned Iranian companies," he told Fox News Digital.
"Many times, that authority will be abbreviated or explained as being providers of material support to sanctioned Iranian companies. But in fact, any level of services whatsoever could be the basis for the United States imposing sanctions against the company for providing services to Iran." "Restoration of the certificate is unequivocally sanctionable," Paner warned. "Restoring the certificate is/was a service provided to the PGSA, which can be the basis for imposing sanctions pursuant to Executive Order 13224, as amended.
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