The Legal Status of Closing International Straits in Peacetime: A Case Study of the Strait of Hormuz
Keywords:
International Peace and Security, Economic Sanction, Harmless Passage, Transit CrossingAbstract
Parallel to the evolution of the law of the sea regarding the rights of States over maritime areas, the legal regime of international straits has also undergone significant transformations. In this context, the possibility of closing straits during peacetime has become a subject of inquiry for Iranian scholars of international law. Based on the hypothesis that an economic embargo—despite its illegitimacy—has neither been recognized as an act of armed conflict nor as an equivalent thereto, it is not permissible to establish a state of war in such straits. Nevertheless, under the 1958 and 1982 conventions, the closure of straits in peacetime is not governed by a uniform regime, thus necessitating a detailed legal analysis, which is undertaken in this article using an analytical–descriptive method. The findings indicate that if Iran is recognized as a permanent objector to transit passage, the northern part of the Strait of Hormuz would be subject to the non-suspendable innocent passage regime under the 1958 Convention, and pursuant to paragraph 4 of Article 16 of that Convention, it would not be permissible to suspend innocent passage, even partially or temporarily, during peacetime.
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Copyright (c) 1402 Sajjad Hassanpour (Author); Farid Azadbakht (Corresponding author); Massoud Ghasemi (Author)
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