Iran is reportedly moving to assert greater control over the by charging tolls on vessels passing through the waterway and asking them to coordinate with the to secure safe transit.
The key waterway within Iran’s and Oman’s territorial waters is perhaps the world’s most important energy shipping lane, carrying about 20% of the world’s oil.
Iran effectively closed the following US-Israeli strikes on the country, and has demanded the right to collect tolls as a precondition to ending the war. And this would eventually push up prices of key commodities worldwide.
Sam Ori, executive director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, while speaking to Politico, said that Iran has “demonstrated that they can close it now … they plan to use that newfound capacity to implement a cost,” Ori said. “We’ve moved into a space where things are going to be a little bit more expensive for the foreseeable future.”
But, is the toll even legal?
What does the Law of the Sea say?
The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), adopted in 1982 and enforced since 1994, states that Article 38 provides vessels with a right of unimpeded “transit passage” through more than 100 straits worldwide, including the Strait of Hormuz. It specifically mentions that ‘the country bordering a strait can regulate passage within its territorial sea” up to 12 nautical miles from its border, but shall permit innocent passage.’
A passage is innocent as long as it does not harm a country’s peace, order, or security. Activities such as military operations, serious pollution, spying, and fishing are prohibited.
Around 170 countries and the European Union have approved UNCLOS, but Iran and the United States have not.
Reuters, quoting experts, reported, “UNCLOS has become or is generally viewed as customary international law. Some non-ratifying countries may argue that they need not follow the treaty because they persistently and consistently object. Iran has argued that it has made such objections. The United States disputes Iran’s authority to charge tolls.”
Can the toll be challenged?
There is no formal mechanism to enforce UNCLOS. Courts like the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg and the International Court of Justice in The Hague can give rulings, but they cannot enforce them.
Countries and businesses have other potential means to counteract tolls.
A willing state or coalition of states could try to enforce the treaty. The UN Security Council could pass a resolution opposing tolls.
Companies could redirect shipments away from the Strait of Hormuz, and have begun doing so. Countries could expand sanctions targeting financial transactions believed to benefit Iran’s government by sanctioning companies willing to pay tolls.
Is a joint US-Iran toll arrangement a real possibility?
Speaking about it, told ABC News that a shared toll with is “a way of securing the Strait of Hormuz.”
However, Iran’s 10-point peace plan does not mention such a joint venture. In fact, it asked the US to remove forces from the Middle East, lift sanctions on Iran, and continue Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump has also suggested the US could impose its own tolls on vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz, The Hill reports.
