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Bahrain’s Foreign Minister urged the international community on Monday to take stronger action over Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, warning that failure to respond risks inflicting hundreds of billions of dollars in economic losses and further disrupting global supply chains, as the crisis at the vital energy chokepoint deepens.
Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting on maritime security, convened by Bahrain, Abdullatif Al Zayani said silence over Iran’s actions could normalise breaches of international law.
“This trajectory is detrimental to the interests of all nations. It threatens global supply chains and exacerbates the challenges faced by already fragile economies,” he said. “Complacency and inaction in the face of such a situation will have grave consequences for international peace and security.”
UAE Minister of State Khalifa Shaheen Almarar demanded compensation for the global economic damage caused by Tehran’s actions.
He said Iran was continuing to restrict freedom of navigation through the vital waterway “in flagrant defiance” of UN resolutions by imposing “illegal fees on transiting vessels, unlawfully obstructing navigation”.
“In light of this economic coercion and flagrant violations of international law, my country holds Iran responsible,” he said. “Iran is obliged to provide compensation for all damages resulting from its internationally wrongful actions including the consequences of such behaviour on the sea impacting energy security supply chains and the security of food and fertilisers essential for agriculture, particularly in the countries of the Global South.”
The Minister added that the UAE was prepared to join international efforts to ensure the Strait of Hormuz remains open and safeguard transit rights through it.
Shipping through the strait has been halted since the US and Israel attacked Iran in February. Iran has sealed off the passage, sharply cutting oil and gas flows and sending prices soaring, while the US has blockaded Iranian ports. Tehran has said it wants to impose transit fees as part of any lasting peace deal.
Ebrahim Azizi, head of the national security commission in Iran’s parliament, told state television on Monday that Iranian armed forces would be the authority responsible for the strait under the country’s proposed law for managing the waterway.
The head of the UN International Maritime Organisation, Arsenio Dominguez, told council members there was “no legal basis” for the imposition of any fees for ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
France's Foreign Minister Jean Noel Barrot said Tehran must make “major concessions” to end the crisis, "whose origins lie in operations launched by the United States and Israel”.
“There will be no lasting solution to this crisis unless the Iranian regime engages in major concessions and a radical change of posture to facilitate the peaceful coexistence of Iran with its regional environment and the Iranian people to be granted the opportunity to build their own future,” he said.
The US envoy to the UN, Mike Waltz, said that Iran's laying of mines broke international law.
“Indiscriminate planting of mines in international waterways makes Iran international criminal pirates of the straits,” Mr Waltz said. “Tehran admits to these crimes, but it's so incompetent, it also admits to not knowing where the mines are.” He called on a “coalition of like-minded partners to step up and step in with real capabilities”.
Before the UN Security Council meeting, Britain’s Minister for Europe, Stephen Doughty, told a group of reporters at the UN that Iran could not be allowed to “hold the rest of the world to ransom” through its blockade of the strait.
“Iran cannot be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon. They cannot be allowed to undertake these types of attacks on civilian infrastructure, on our allies and partners,” he said. “Crucially, they cannot be allowed to hold the rest of the world effectively to ransom when it comes to shipping and commercial traffic.”
Asked by The National about British and French efforts to build a multinational maritime mission to protect shipping through the waterway, Mr Doughty said discussions were under way but declined to provide operational details.
