\n<\/p>\n
The solution was transit passage, a new regime sitting between innocent passage and full freedom of navigation. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), transit passage establishes that ships of all nations have the right to pass through straits continuously and without interference, a right that cannot be suspended.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Strait states can regulate transit passage only on matters specified in UNCLOS, including safety of navigation and prevention of pollution, but they cannot stop ships from passing, and they cannot charge tolls simply for the right of transit although charges may be levied for specific services provided to the ship.<\/p>\n
The Strait of Hormuz,\u00a0located in the territorial seas of Iran and Oman, is considered a strait used for international navigation. Oman is a party to UNCLOS while Iran is not.<\/p>\n
Iran is considered bound by the transit passage regime on the basis that it has become customary international law, having been accepted widely and applied consistently by the rest of the world. However, Iran has argued that it is not bound as the transit passage regime is not customary international law. Iran has persistently objected to the transit passage regime.<\/p>\n
Notwithstanding this disagreement, Iran is in any event bound by the customary international law principle pre-dating UNCLOS that strait states cannot prohibit, hamper or suspend innocent passage of ships through straits used for international navigation.<\/p>\n
Because Iran, Israel and the United States are at war, it also triggers a separate, older law of naval warfare. It affirms that the peacetime right of transit passage under UNCLOS does not disappear in armed conflict.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Countries not involved in the fighting \u2013 neutral states \u2013 retain the right to move their commercial ships through the strait. Those engaged in the armed conflict \u2013 belligerent states \u2013 may restrict enemy vessels belonging to each other or ships actively assisting the enemy.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n