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Iran told the UN Security Council and the International Maritime Organisation on Tuesday that “non-hostile vessels” may transit the Strait of Hormuz if they co-ordinate with Iranian authorities, according to a letter seen by The National.
The letter, sent on Sunday by Iran’s Foreign Ministry to the 15-member council and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, said ships must not support or take part in action against Iran and must comply with its safety and security regulations.
“Iran has taken necessary and proportionate measures to prevent the aggressors and their supporters from exploiting the Strait of Hormuz to advance hostile operations against Iran,” the letter said.
It added that vessels, equipment and assets belonging to the US and Israel, and others involved in what Iran described as aggression, would not qualify for “innocent or non-hostile passage".
"Responsibility for any disruption, insecurity or escalation of risks in this critical waterway and its surrounding region rests squarely with the United States and the Israeli regime," the letter added.
"By waging an unlawful and destabilising war against Iran, they have gravely endangered regional peace and stability and exposed international shipping to unprecedented threats."
The UN Security Council was expected this week to consider a resolution that would allow military action to protect ships in the waterway.
Iran's new supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamanei earlier said his country would use the closure of the strait as a "tool of pressure" against the US and Israel.
Several countries, including France, Japan and the UAE, have signed a joint statement supporting "appropriate efforts" to keep the Strait of Hormuz open and ensuring freedom of navigation.
US President Donald Trump has called on allied countries to help American forces police the strait. His calls were unsuccessful, and he later declared that the US does not need the strait, and so other countries should take on the burden of securing it.
Salvatore Mercogliano, an expert on military and commercial shipping at Campbell University, North Carolina, said Iran has no legal basis for deciding what ships can sail through the Strait of Hormuz.
He said Iran's reference to "innocent passage” to justify its actions relates to Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos). This provision means no state can stop the innocent passage of a vessel when it goes through the territorial waters of that nation.
Mr Mercogliano explained on his YouTube channel, What’s Going on With Shipping, that the problem with their case is that the Strait of Hormuz is not entirely in the territorial waters of Iran. A large part of it is in Omani or UAE waters, or areas contested by the UAE and Iran, he said.
“You can pass through the Strait of Hormuz without going within the territorial waters of Iran whatsoever,” he said. Mr Mercogliano said the Iranian letter states that vessels belonging to non-hostile states may “benefit from safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz in co-ordination with competent Iranian authorities”.
“There is no justification for that. You do not have to co-ordinate with Iran at all to technically make your passage through the Strait of Hormuz.”
