Iran is reportedly trying to assert greater control over the Strait of Hormuz by charging tolls on vessels passing through the waterway and asking them to coordinate with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for safe transit.
The key waterway in Iranian and Omani territorial waters is perhaps the world’s most important energy shipping route, transporting about 20% of the world’s oil.
Iran effectively closed the strait after US-Israeli ground strikes and demanded the right to collect tolls as a condition of ending the war. And that would ultimately push up the prices of key commodities around the world.
Sam Ori, executive director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, told Politico that Iran “has shown that they can now shut it down … they plan to use the newfound capacity to realize the 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 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), adopted in 1982 and enforced since 1994, states that Article 38 gives vessels the right of unimpeded “transit passage” through more than 100 straits worldwide, including the Strait of Hormuz. Specifically, it states that “a country bordering a strait may regulate passage in its territorial sea” up to 12 nautical miles from its border, but must allow innocent passage.
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A passage is innocent if it is not prejudicial to the peace, order or security of the country. Activities such as military operations, serious pollution, espionage and fishing are prohibited.
About 170 countries and the European Union have ratified UNCLOS, but Iran and the United States have not.
Citing experts, Reuters reported: “UNCLOS has become, or is generally regarded as, customary international law. Some non-ratifying countries may argue that they do not have to abide by the treaty because of persistent and consistent protests. Iran has argued that it has raised such objections. The United States questions Iran’s authority to charge tolls.”
Can tolls be disputed?
There is no formal mechanism to enforce UNCLOS. Courts such as the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg and the International Court of Justice in The Hague can issue rulings but cannot enforce them.
Countries and businesses have other potential means of countering the toll.
A willing state or coalition of states could attempt to enforce the treaty. The UN Security Council could pass a resolution against tolls.
Companies could and have begun to divert shipments away from the Strait of Hormuz. Countries could expand sanctions targeting financial transactions believed to benefit the Iranian government by sanctioning companies willing to pay tolls.
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Is a joint US-Iran toll deal a real possibility?
Speaking on the matter, Donald Trump told ABC News that shared tolls with Iran are “the way to secure the Strait of Hormuz.”
However, Iran’s ten-point peace plan makes no mention of such a joint venture. In effect, she asked the US to remove forces from the Middle East, lift sanctions on Iran and continue Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump also suggested the U.S. could impose its own tolls on vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz, according to The Hill.
