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by nerfbatplz 31 days ago
Ironically the US has never ratified UNCLOS. The American professed interest in maintaining right of passage does not appear to require them to be held to the same standards.

Also the Strait of Hormuz is an international strait not international waters. The entire strait lies within Iranian and Omani waters. Frankly it's a bit absurd to complain that your ships can't transit a country's waters while you bomb them.

3 comments

The original ship channel was in Omani waters, not Iranian. It is entirely unreasonable to consider it reasonable for Iran to mine Omani waters.
It is reasonable for Iran to do things that hurt the US (and the world) when the US hurts them.
> It is reasonable for Iran to do things that hurt the US

Yes

> (and the world)

No

It is not the world. Only Israel, USA and their direct allies are explicitly banned. Most of the world is not.
They shot at neutral ships when they closed the strait, where do you get your info from?

If it was just USA and Israel and Nato even then you'd see a ton of ships go through and the world wouldn't be very affected, since almost all ships that go through the strait are not Nato aligned.

Because neutral ships also need permission to cross the strait, even if they have not been explicitly banned. Because the status of the blockade has changed and continues to change according to tensions in the region. Several countries have obtained permission to cross: China, Russia, India, Iraq, Pakistan, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. Even so, it is understandable that ships are hesitant to pass through there and are seeking less uncertain routes, because of the tensions, risk of war and because in addition to Iran, the United States also claims to have imposed a blockade and has attacked ships.
Oman was not neutral and did not bar it's airspace to Israel/US planes/troops/ships, so it's a legitimate target.
No one owns anything or has the right to anything.

Everything is either what you hold by force, or have a friend who holds it by force for you.

> Frankly it's a bit absurd to complain that your ships can't transit a country's waters while you bomb them.

The issue is they block all non-Iranian ships, not just American ships. Basically nobody would have complained if they only blocked American ships.

Incorrect, plenty of countries have had their ships transit the Strait including China, Philippines and Pakistan

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c79jqx1xdy9o

They shot at Indian vessels, so you are wrong they are blocking neutral nations. India is not allied to USA or Israel. That they let some vessels through doesn't mean they don't shoot at neutral ships, they shoot at most neutral ships.

https://iranwire.com/en/news/152407-30-ships-passed-through-...

Pay toll and don't get your ship bombed.

They likely didn't pay to move their goods through the strait.

That is illegal, that is equivalent to blocking it. No other country accepts existence of such a toll, and any company paying it will get sanctioned by the entire world since it would set such a bad precedent if countries started to toll their straits.

You don't pay money to terrorists to make them not bomb your stuff, you eliminate the terrorists, otherwise you get more terrorists.

It's only illegal if you recognize the law. Why is charging for passage in Ormuz illegal and not in the Panama or Suez canals? Iran can (legitimately) say they require compensation for reconstruction and keeping the security of the strait after the attacks from the terrorist states of Israel and US.