Iran can’t be allowed to control the Strait of Hormuz - And the USA mustn’t repeat the mistakes it made in 1956 during the Suez Crisis.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is seeking to apply tolls on vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz, an international waterway. Arrogantly, the Iranian regime has blocked the Strait to international shipping and has created a major energy crisis that is deliberately impacting Americans at the gas pumps and causing financial losses worldwide.
The Strait is a natural phenomenon, a narrow waterway that connects two larger bodies of water and is used for international navigation. Under international law — particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) — ships have the right of transit passage through such waterways. This means vessels must be allowed to pass continuously and without obstruction. Canals are man-made waterways and need maintenance, and thus are permitted to charge specific tolls. The Iranian regime is using the Strait of Hormuz as a weapon against the United States and the Arab Gulf states and arbitrarily seeking to impose tolls to bolster their failing economy.
The Canal, constructed by Britain and France in 1869, has been maintained by the Suez Canal Company for the past 87 years. On July 26, 1956, however, Gamal Abdel Nasser, then Egypt’s president, nationalized the Suez Canal without a negotiated agreement with Britain and France. Like the current situation with the Strait of Hormuz, it disrupted international navigation through the Canal, which triggered the Suez Crisis involving Britain, France, and Israel.
Nasser resolved to charge tolls on ships passing through the Canal, the funds from which would finance the building of the Aswan Dam, a major infrastructure project on the Nile River. Britain and France sent troops to occupy the Canal zone. Israel launched Operation Kadesh in October 1956, primarily as a reaction to Egyptian-sponsored Fedayeen terror attacks from Gaza against Israeli civilians.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) defeated the Soviet-supplied Egyptian army in a victory that astonished the world and captured the entire Sinai Peninsula along with the Gaza Strip in just eight days. At the same time, Israel’s success in Operation Kadesh, also known as the Sinai Campaign, resulted in the opening of the Straits of Tiran to Israeli navigation.
The Eisenhower administration opposed and acted against the Anglo-French military operation, which meant to restore their rights to the Canal. Eisenhower undermined them and threatened to withdraw support for the British pound unless British prime minister Anthony Eden ordered a ceasefire, forcing Eden to back down. Eisenhower’s actions, while undercutting the British, French, and Israelis (forcing Israel to withdraw from the Sinai and Gaza), granted Nasser a major victory that made him the champion of pan-Arabism and a client of the Soviet Union.
Despite efforts by the Eisenhower administration to appease Nasser, he became an anti-Western dictator. At the same time, Eisenhower failed to deter the Soviets from invading Hungary, whose people sought freedom from Soviet domination and communism.
Iran’s use of the Strait as a bargaining chip is not unprecedented. Iranian officials threatened to close the waterway in April 2019 after President Trump ended sanctions waivers for importers of Iranian oil, effectively eliminating a vital source of revenue for Tehran. The United States has long considered freedom of navigation a vital interest, setting the stage for a continued confrontation should Iran try to extend the blocking of shipping in the waterway. During the Iran-Iraq War, U.S. naval ships escorted oil tankers through the strait, and in 1987, U.S. forces fired on Iranian forces laying mines in the Gulf, killing four sailors.
There is a parallel between the Suez Crisis of 1956 and the current crisis over the Strait of Hormuz. Both Egypt’s Nasser and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who now control Iran, sought revenue for their failed economies. They have expropriated resources and used them as a weapon (Nasser against the British and French,, the IRGC against the U.S., international shipping, and Arab Gulf states). The Strait of Hormuz carries roughly one fifth of all global oil supplies. The Suez Canal connects Europe and Asia through the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Whereas Egypt has an excuse today to charge tolls, there is no excuse for Iran to do so.
The international community cannot allow Iran’s act of aggression to stand. The U.S. cannot permit Iran to control an international waterway crucial to global commerce. Moreover, if the Islamic Republic maintains its control of the Hormuz Strait and charges tolls, the littoral states along the Malacca strait — Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia, whose sovereignty extends to the land borders and territorial waters — might consider a similar form of revenue. This would paralyze international trade, making it a costly endeavor and incurring long delays for the passage of ships. The principle of freedom of navigation under the U..N Convention on the Law of the Sea would be severely obstructed.
President Trump said he was considering ”taking over” the Strait and threatened Iran against halting oil flows there. He has also suggested selling insurance for ships traveling through the Gulf to ensure “the free flow of energy to the world” via escorts from the U.S. Navy. Currently, the Navy has been instructed to implement a blockade against Iran, which has cut deeply into Iran’s oil export revenues and has had a critical effect on its economy.
The Trump administration, unlike the Eisenhower administration, must act upon these threats. While considering its own interest in securing the global freedom of navigation, the U.S. must also take into account the interests of its allies, particularly Bahrain, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates. Iran must not be allowed to intimidate the world with a nuclear bomb, nor by any action that would block the Strait of Hormuz.