❌ The executive council of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) on Friday, 19 Tir, strongly condemned Iran’s efforts to impose sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and to create an entity to control traffic in this waterway by issuing a decision. The council asked all member countries not to recognize the Islamic Republic of Iran’s sovereignty over the strait and its judicial jurisdiction over the maritime areas of third countries.

The decision was adopted while recent military tensions between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States, and reciprocal attacks by both sides, have increased concerns about the security of global energy resources and the safety of shipping. Previously, an entity in Iran called the “Persian Gulf Strait Organization” had announced that the passage of ships is subject to obtaining permission from this body—an action that the council of the International Maritime Organization called “interference in international navigation.”

In response, Iran’s delegation to the International Maritime Organization, while rejecting these allegations, described them as “political and lacking a legal basis,” and emphasized that since Iran is not a party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), it does not consider itself bound by the legal regime based on that treaty.