Moscow and Beijing move in the Security Council. Brazil accuses Washington of piracy
A wave of international anger escalated after US President Donald Trump announced his intention to impose tariffs and a transit tax of up to 20% on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, in a move described as economic bullying and a flagrant violation of global trade freedom and international navigation rules.
Major capitals have said Washington is trying to turn one of the most important international sea lanes into a forcible collection platform, in direct defiance of UN maritime law.
On Monday, July 13, Trump decided to reimpose a naval blockade on Iran and charge duties on goods passing through the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for American protection, without clarifying the details and how the money would be collected.
Trump said the United States had decided to reimpose a naval blockade on Iran and levy a 20 percent tariff on all goods shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, after Tehran announced the closure of the vital waterway.
"The Strait of Hormuz is open, and will remain open, whether with or without Iran. We will reimpose the blockade on Iran."
Brazilian President: Washington is acting like a pirate
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Monday that the United States would act like "pirates" if it taxed ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, as proposed by Trump.
"In the past, it was considered piracy," Lula said at a public event in São Caetano do Sul, in São Paulo state.
"The United States is an important country, and I think it has fought piracy for a long time, and today it cannot act like a hacker," he said.
Joint Russian and Chinese condemnation and action in the Security Council
China's Foreign Ministry has described the U.S. proposal as "dangerous unilateral practices that undermine international maritime law," stressing that a 20 percent tax would cause paralysis imposed by global supply chains and energy stores on which Asian countries depend, reiterating its categorical refusal to join any U.S. maritime alliance.
The Russian Foreign Ministry considered Trump's proposals to impose tariffs on international sea crossings as "codified piracy," and Russia, in coordination with China, led a move in the Security Council in which it used its veto power to abort a U.S. draft resolution aimed at granting Washington a mandate to manage navigation in the Gulf.
Iran's response: "Piracy and extortion"
Iran's Foreign Ministry and the Revolutionary Guards Command have described Trump's remarks about the 20 percent threshold as "public blackmail and unfounded international bullying."
Tehran stressed that the security of the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz is the exclusive and legitimate responsibility of the countries bordering it (Iran and the Sultanate of Oman), promising to continue closing the strait and preventing the passage of any military units that try to impose this levy.
Confusion on global shipping exchanges (Lloyd's London)
Britain and the London Maritime Insurance Exchange (LSE) have issued urgent warnings in which they confirmed that the mere threat of a 20% fee has prompted major shipping companies to consider rerouting their tankers completely around the Cape of Good Hope route, which means doubling shipping costs, delayed delivery of supplies, and insanely high oil prices in global markets.
Omani Extreme Cautious Position
Western reports confirmed that the Sultanate of Oman is adopting a very cautious diplomatic position, based on its long record as an honest mediator in the region's crises, as Muscat currently prevails in an urgent shuttle mediation between Washington and Tehran to prevent the crisis of closing the Strait of Hormuz and the 20% tariffs that Trump has waved to an open military confrontation.
She pointed out that Omani diplomacy is moving through delicate political and legal paths aimed at defusing the escalation and creating a mutually acceptable formula, as Muscat first seeks to revive the Omani proposal to reorganize navigation traffic through two separate lanes, which is a technical proposal formulated by the Omani Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is based on the separation of transit lines to ensure maritime stability.
The Southern Corridor, located within Oman's territorial waters, grants commercial ships absolute freedom of navigation in accordance with the rules that were in force before the outbreak of the war, in order to meet the international community's demand to ensure the unfettered flow of trade, while the Northern Corridor gives Tehran the right to self-control and require prior authorization, preservation of sovereignty and security considerations.
Muscat seeks to implement the provisions of the law of the sea
The Omani mediation is working to dismantle the knot of fees and taxes that triggered the crisis, by drafting a financial and legal settlement that nullifies Trump's proposal to impose a 20% tax, while at the same time mitigating the severity of the Iranian response, think tanks said.
The settlement is based on strict adherence to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which prohibits the imposition of any taxes on free passage in international straits, while replacing the idea of compulsory taxation with optional and limited logistics fees paid for maritime guidance, maintenance, pollution control and salvage, ensuring that costs are covered without violating international law.