NEW YORK - The United States and Bahrain on Thursday introduced a draft UN Security Council resolution demanding Iran halt attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, remove sea mines from the waterway and end what the sponsors called illegal tolls on international vessels.
The measure, co-sponsored by the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar, builds on Resolution 2817, which the council adopted without opposition with 136 co-sponsors. It would be enacted under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, making its provisions binding.
Since February 28, at least 32 commercial vessels have been targeted in or around the strait, leaving an estimated 2,000 ships and 20,000 personnel stranded, UAE Ambassador Mohamed Abushahab said, citing figures from the International Maritime Organization. A vessel affiliated with Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. was struck earlier this week, he added.
"The draft resolution calls for Iran to immediately cease all attacks and threats against commercial vessels," Bahraini Ambassador Jamal Fares Alrowaiei told reporters. "Protecting freedom of navigation through the strait is a challenge and we must meet it together."
Saudi Ambassador Abdulaziz Alwasil said disruptions to maritime transit were affecting global energy markets and the delivery of food, medicine and humanitarian assistance, with the heaviest consequences falling on import-dependent countries.
Kuwaiti Ambassador Tareq Albanai said international waters "must remain open and secure" and free from coercion. Qatari Ambassador Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani echoed the call, saying the closure of the strait risked transforming a regional crisis into a global one across energy, supply chains and food security.
US Ambassador Michael Waltz, asked by Rudaw how Washington would prevent a possible Russian or Chinese veto, said the principle at stake was straightforward.
"You cannot indiscriminately put mines out in the ocean because you have a disagreement with another party," Waltz said. "You cannot see the Straits of Malacca, the Straits of Gibraltar, the Bering Strait as a revenue source to just start charging the entire rest of the world."
Waltz also pointed to humanitarian crises in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, saying more than 80 aid agencies had asked the council to allow life-saving deliveries through the strait.
Iran rejected the draft. Its UN ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, told reporters that the United States and Bahrain had brought to the table what he called a "deeply flawed, one-sided and politically motivated draft resolution on the situation in and around the Strait of Hormuz."
A Russian mission official, asked about Moscow's position, told reporters in a hallway outside the chamber that Russia opposed the resolution but declined to elaborate. China's UN ambassador, whose country holds the rotating Security Council presidency this month, did not respond to questions on Beijing's position.
No vote date has been set, and negotiations are continuing.