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The head of the Gulf Co-operation Council has urged the UN Security Council to take “measures” to protect maritime routes and ensure freedom of navigation, warning that disruptions were having global consequences.
GCC Secretary General Jasem Al Budaiwi said members are being subjected to “sinful” Iranian aggression and have a legitimate right to defend themselves.
“The Security Council must take measures to ensure the protection of waterways, and we demand that the Security Council issue a resolution securing freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” he said on Thursday.
Mr Budaiwi said shipping interruptions were no longer confined to the region but were affecting countries worldwide through shortages of oil, gas, fertiliser and petrochemicals.
“We stress that disruptions to maritime navigation do not stop at the borders of three sea states. They now affect many countries around the world,” he said.
He spoke in New York at the first Security Council meeting on co-operation with the GCC, which comprises Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman.
He called on the Security Council to “assume full responsibility” and adopt measures to guarantee safe transit through waterways, including the Strait of Hormuz, and to ensure Iran halts attacks on vessels.
Mr Al Budaiwi also urged the Security Council to ensure the “sustainable opening” of the strait and to take steps to protect maritime corridors and maintain uninterrupted navigation.
Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani told the Security Council that the kingdom’s draft resolution addressing Iran’s “unlawful and unjustified” attempt to control international navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, will be put to a vote on Friday.
“We are confident that this draft resolution is consistent with international law and with the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which guarantees the right of transit, passage through straits without obstruction,” he said.
“We look forward to a unified position from this esteemed council during the vote that will take place on the draft resolution tomorrow [April 3],” he added.
Bahrain's latest version put forward to the UN Security Council replaces the words “all necessary measures” with "use of all defensive means necessary” to ensure free navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
UN diplomats said veto-wielding Russia, China and France had raised strong objections to "all necessary means" as they viewed it as opening the door to military action.
Mr Budaiwi said Gulf states should be included in any discussions or agreements with Iran aimed at strengthening regional security and preventing further escalation.
Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, said the current conflict in the Middle East “did not occur in a vacuum,” blaming it on what he described as an “unprovoked act of aggression” by Washington and Israel against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
“The scale of damage to the energy and other essential infrastructure in Iran and in the Arab monarchies is growing by the minute. Irreparable damage is being done, not only to regional stability, but also to global food and energy security and to the global economy as a whole,” he said.
China envoy Fu Cong also warned that authorising UN member states to use force in the Middle East “would amount to legitimising the unlawful and indiscriminate use of force.”
