Iran signaled on Thursday that it intended to continue to oversee shipping traffic through the critical Strait of Hormuz, even after the war, though it insisted that it would not restrict transit.
Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, said that Iran was drafting a protocol that would allow Iran and Oman to “oversee transit through the Strait of Hormuz,” in comments reported by Iran’s state news outlet.
But Gharibabadi said that such oversight “will naturally not mean restrictions; rather, they are intended to facilitate and ensure safe passage and to provide better services to ships passing through this route.”
The U.S. government insists that Iran has no legal right to exercise any control of the strait, which has generally been treated as an international waterway. But during the war, Iran has repeatedly ratcheted up its claims of authority there; it has recently made plans to charge tolls to passing ships.
At its narrowest, the passage is just 24 miles wide, from the northernmost point of Oman to the nearest Iranian land. That means the narrowest point of the strait lies entirely within the territorial waters of the two countries.
But under international law, the strait is open to unimpeded international shipping. That status was codified decades ago by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and it is considered binding, though Iran has not ratified the convention and has disputed its reach.
Since the start of the U.S.-Israeli military campaign, Iran has blocked most traffic through the strait on its southern coast, which has driven up fuel prices across the world. It has said that only the ships of friendly nations may pass, and only with Iranian permission, and it has made threats against those who would defy the blockade. Some ships have been attacked in strikes that other nations have blamed on Iran.
Some countries, such as Malaysia and the Philippines, have said in recent days that Iran has promised to allow their vessels through, and Iran has allowed some Chinese ships to transit the strait. Officials from the United States, Europe and parts of Asia have discussed having warships escort commercial shipping through the strait, a big commitment of resources, but they have not agreed on any arrangements.
Yeganeh Torbati is the Iran correspondent for The Times.
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